The Mysterious Evil One
by Black Fire2
Summary: The Mysterious Evil One is about Michael, a teenage boy with a normal high school life, though things soon change. There begin to be signs of something mysterious looking for him and he does not believe it until a large space ship lands at his school and aliens from a distant galaxy ask him to go with them as he is some chosen one. This book is part one of a three part series.


**The Mysterious Evil One**

**By Scott Elliott**

**Chapter 1**

**The Beginning**

Have you ever had a dream, woken up and wondered what it meant, or even if it will come true? Well in Michael's life, every dream, every thought had led him to wonder what will happen in the near future. And his story starts like this. It was a normal night in the middle of the cold, frosty late August winter of 2009. The residents of 39 Western Avenue Boolarra was sound asleep. The only the sound was of three of the four residents snoring loudly. The family's ginger cat, Sandy was sound asleep on Michael's bed. She was quite a large and old cat, about 8 years to be exact. She was curled up, purring as she always did. She just looked like a large fur ball stationed near the bottom end of the bed. Michael wasn't troubled about the world around him, just the thoughts inside his head. There was a dream that he had... being at school with his friends. A great dream right? Well during this wonderful dream, a giant, oval shaped, grey spaceship landed on the school oval and everyone at the school went to see it. The principal, Mrs Jones went up to it cautiously. A bright light came out of it and… that's all he remembered. He was awake. Sandy was still sleeping on his bed. He got no fright and when he awoke, he did not move, just laid there thinking.

"_What in the world? That was the weirdest dream ever. What did it mean?"_ he wondered. He's main wonder in it all was that he didn't understand why he had a dream about aliens. He didn't believe in them and they weren't proved to be real either. Michael was a Caucasian teenage boy, the age of 16 and had quite tall skinny body that made him look like a skeleton with skin. Michael rolled over under his red and black, single bed 'Pirates of the Caribbean' doona. Sandy gave a jolt and jumped off his bed onto the soft, grey carpet below. It was still dark as Michael looked at his digital clock sitting on a row of shelves on the opposite side of the room with his blue eyes. The glowing numbers on it were blurry for his sight. He blinked a couple of times to see it. It was 2:11 AM.

"Oh geez, I can't believe it." He said to himself quietly, thinking of his conspiracy about 11. He didn't want to wake up everyone else in the house. It seemed likely that lately every time he looked at the time it always had the hour and 11 minutes. Michael's question about his conspiracy had been answered when he found out that 11 was the favourite number of girl he 'loved'. Also every time it occurred, something to do with her happened not long after. Michael picked up Sandy, holding her by her white underbelly while allowing her back legs to perch on his right arm. He left his bedroom, travelling quietly down the two thin yet quite tall hallways and made it the open laundry door. As he lightly put her on the cold, hard silver floor she gave a croaky meow and turned toward Michael, watching him close the laundry door. Michael then headed back to bed. Sleep was a long time coming and the 11 conspiracy still hung in his head.

Michael woke up about three hours later. His dad, George, was getting ready for work. He was 53 years old, had a medium build, wasn't that much shorter than Michael, and also had blue eyes and long dark brown hair that hung past his shoulders in a short mullet. He was a carpenter at a local power station. Michael watched him walk back and forth past his bedroom door, wearing his orange work overalls. At one point Michael could hear him in the kitchen buttering toast as he did every weekday morning, only eating cereal on the days he did not work. Soon enough it was 6:00 AM and Michael turned on his black stereo and listened to Star FM on the radio. He did this every school morning to see if the day ahead of him was going to be a good or bad day. He also did it on the weekend and the school holidays, but at a different time which always ended up being between 9:00 and 10:30 AM; depending on what sort of mood he was in.

"_1 over 1; 100%_." he thought as he listened to the first song which ended up being a song that he liked. After that song finished, Michael listened the radio people talk about daily things until the next song came on. He didn't like the second song, so "_1 over 2… 50%, an alright day_." He thought, dong the math; in this case, the percentage. He calculated it by this formula: The number of songs he liked over the total amount of songs he heard overall in that morning. On top of that he went by this rule: If by the end, before he went to school on school days or he turned the radio off any other day, if it was between 100 and 75% it was going to be a really good day, between 74 and 61% it was going to be just a good day, between 60 and 40% was an alright day, between 39 and 26% was a bad day, and between 25 and 0% was a really bad day. He called this his 'Radio Theory', which he hadn't realised, worked until the day on the Tuesday of the last week of term 2 and Semester 1 at MNSC (Mirboo North Secondary Collage, Mirboo North, South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, Australasia, Earth, Solar System, Samana galaxy). It seemed like any normal day except that morning it was a 7 over 9; 77.77% day. Little did Michael realise, it meant something big was in stored for him that day. If you believe in 'fate', this would blow your mind, and if not, the same effect because the girl known as Adma, became a part of the ultimate fate Michael had to choose. She was the one of many girls he would come to love in his life. It was lunch time and Michael and one his best friends Barry were standing around talking. Barry was a year older than Michael, was about the same height as Michael, had a medium build, and had short blonde messy hair and blue eyes as well. It was surprising with how many people he knew had blue eyes. While they were both in a conversation, one of Adma's best friends walked past them and randomly said, "Hey Adma's in the computer room by the way." Michael and Barry were left puzzled. It was strange that she was heading to the library, the opposite way to the computer room. In their confusion they went to the computer room to see what she was on about. In this time, all Michael had on his mind was why she had said such a thing. Once Michael and Barry got there they entered a room that was quite long but not as wide as its length Around the outside wall of the room were black computers with black flat screened monitors on top of grey tables. In front of each of these were lime coloured wheelie chairs. In the middle of the room was quite a number of blue tables that were set up next to each other making it look like it was just one long as table. There were also blue chairs around it and there was room to walk around it too. At the end near the entry door and the front of the classroom, in the seat at the end of the table was a teacher by the name of Mr Roberts who kindly spoke to them both as they entered,

"What do you want." he asked. Michael didn't reply. Instead he noticed Adma and two of her friend's sitting at three different computers next to each other, talking amongst one another. Adma was 15 years old, a little shorter than Michael, had her blonde hair tied back in a short pony tail. She listened intently to their conversation, her hazel eyes not leaving them. Michael then came back to his senses and looked at Mr Roberts. He was quite bald with not much hair on his head, was a bit taller than Michael, looked about 56 years old, and was wearing a red long sleeved top, blue jeans and round glasses on his face over his green eyes.

"I, I mean we just wanted to see who was in here. So, what have you been up to?" Michael asked. That was the conversation starter that luckily for him always worked in getting a reply to.

"Not much. Not much at all really." He replied briefly, unsure of what else to say. Michael just stood there facing the doorway with his back facing Mr Roberts. Barry on the hand was facing him and they started a conversation. Michael was still standing there for a reason while paying attention to the voice in his head.

"_Should I? She's right there. Just go up and talk to her. The evidence shows it… No, it's not time… Yes… No… oh… do it… No, it's not time."_ He thought; all confused which was giving him a bit of a headache. After all that thinking, he finally made a choice. He said goodbye to Mr Roberts and walked out of the room with Barry closely behind him. They both walked back out into the cream coloured corridor. They walked along the grey floor past a long row of wooden lockers. It was set up with two (one on top of the other) quite small yet effective sized lockers with a certain three digit number carved into them on the front of the door, allowing students each year to know which locker was theirs. There were about ten columns of them that spanned the same length of the computer room wall and little further down opposite the computer room Michael and Barry had just exited. They walked through another small corridor and back outside to where they were before.

Michael eventually forgot all about it, even though he had double English the last two periods and Adma was also in that same class. He found English pretty boring, though all of his friends were also in it; it was the only reason why he found it fun and enjoyable. It wasn't until he got on the bus at the end of the day that afternoon when he realised the mistake he made. He was sitting on the bus in one of the green double seats listening to music on his black four gigabyte MP3 player, thinking about a whole lot of stuff when it suddenly crossed his mind.

"_Damn it! The chance was there and you were too scared… too afraid to just talk to her. Although it just didn't feel like the right time so I must have done the right thing!" _He thought. He was left with nothing but frustration. It was on his mind the whole way home and that night, as much as he hoped, he knew his chance would never come again, until... During the school holidays, Michael had a dream on the morning of the second Monday of the two weeks of the school holidays. He was at some place, like a camp in some sort forest or something; the vision wasn't that clear. He and Barry walked up to Adma. She was wearing a pink hooded jumper, light blue jeans and black running shoes. That part was understandable because that was what type of clothes Michael noticed that she wore on out of school uniform days. Both Michael and Barry walked up to Adma and Michael tried to talk to her… said a couple of things, but she ended up shutting him up by kissing him. Michael woke up in a fright, though his head did not leave the top of his pillow. He thought it was weird that he had a dream like that. About 5 minutes later he eventually got back to sleep. Even though he wasn't thinking about it, the thing that scared him most was that he dreamed just about the same thing. It wasn't the same place, but the same thing happened. It was at McDonalds in Traralgon and Morwell; as if they were crossed between one another. He was sitting at a grey table in a soft, grey seat with a couple of people he knew from school.

"Look Michael there's Adma." One of them said. They were about 15 years old, female; both of them. The girl sitting next to me had long black hair pretty much covering her face and wore a dark blue top. Michael looked behind through the gap in some horizontal wooden wall with gaps between the planks of wood. He saw Adma and some of her friends. He looked away and straight after that, she and her friends ended up sitting at the table next to him. He got up and walked around the corner, not at all able to stand sitting that close to her. He would've loved to. Every time he went over this part of the dream, he could never figure out why he walked away. The only conclusion that made sense was that it was just the way things turned out, trying to escape the awkwardness. Or was it because he was afraid or some massive avoiding of her like he'd done most times that year? After he left, and walked around the corner, he went over it.

"Just talk to her." He said to himself. He looked up behind him and he saw her walk straight up to him. He tried to speak, but she just shut him up by kissing him! He woke up with another fright. He had the exact similar dream in one night. The last time he had two similar consecutive dreams like this, it ended up coming true in which was the 2009 Latrobe Valley bushfires. It had been forgotten about quickly due to the following bushfires about a week later that became to be known as 'Black Saturday'. That occurred about seven months earlier. It was clear in his mind and one of the scariest and life threatening days in his life up to that point. The occurrence with Adma showed him that he'd tell her the truth, but the real question was of when the right time was for him to follow fate, or if this was just a dream of what he wished for. It was hard for him to know the answer to that for sure.

Days after, it got closer to the end of the holidays and for him to decide what to do. He talked to one of his closest best friends, Andrew, on the computer via MSN. He told him about the dreams and his deep in need of help including the reason for why he wanted it.

"Okay Michael, tell me when we get back to school, I will help you, I promise." Andrew said.

"Thanks a lot mate; it's just that the last time I had two of the same dreams in such a close timing together, it was about the bushfires in Boolarra, about a year ago exactly (month wise) I had a dream about a bushfire in Boolarra, woke up, and then when I went back to sleep, I like had the exact same dream (true story), so I don't know what this means."

"Okay then… Like I said, I'll help you when we get back to school. Okay?"

"Okay the-"

"Michael... Michael. Are you going to get out of bed?" Michael's mum, Mary said, interrupting Michael's train of thought. She stood in Michael's bedroom doorway. He rolled over and looked at her. She had dark brown hair, was a bit shorter than her husband and wore glasses with transition lenses. She was wearing a light blue dressing gown with pink flowers on it. She was keeping her feet warm on that cold morning with her bright pink slippers on. Michael looked at the time. It was 6:45 AM.

"Well? Are you alright?" She asked him.

"Yeah I am." I replied.

"Well get up before John gets in the shower." She said. The problem with Michael's twin brother John was that he took about fifteen minutes in the shower and about another half an hour in the bathroom itself. Michael ripped off his doona and jumped out of bed. Mary walked off to get John out of bed. He also was the hardest one to get out of bed every morning, even on weekends. Michael went over to his wardrobe in the dark and got a plain white school T-shirt, grey tracksuit pants, and a hooded purple jumper out of it. He then went to get in the shower like he did every morning. Having them in the morning was better than having them at night He pushed his parted blonde hair down, stopping it from sticking up, got undressed out of his completely black Pyjama top and bottoms, and got in the shower. While he was in the shower (probably too much information), he thought about the rest of what happened back then. When he got back to school after the holidays, even though he promised himself to tell Adma what he needed to tell her, he never saw the right time to do so. Only into the second week of the new term did he see the truth that lied ahead… it was time. It was near the end of recess and Michael walked down to his locker to get his books for periods three and four. As he entered the narrow corridor where his locker was with a whole lot of others, he looked down to the dead end a few metres from his locker and saw Adma with a couple of her friends; different to the ones that were in the computer room weeks earlier.

"_It's time… but it's the end of recess, so I'll be late for class… tell her or be late for class."_ He thought as he got his books. Then he finally made his decision… to go to class. On his way up some stairs on his way to class, a year eleven student ran past singing lyrics from 'How to Save a Life' by a band called 'The Fray'. Michael knew as soon as this happened, it was definitely time; but he didn't know exactly when though. His first chance had been lost and it may have been his last. Fortunately for him, he was wrong. During the double period of the Crime and Punishment class, while listening to the teacher and working, he kept in mind about what had happened during the day so far. When lunch time came around, so did fate. Michael was heading down to his locker with Barry and another one of his good friends, Becky. She was the same age as Adma, was fairly shorter than Michael, and had a big nose, hazel eyes, and long straight hair tied back in a short ponytail. They were by his side after all three of them had been to Becky's locker. Michael saw Adma coming up from her locker walking with one of her friends Caitie. Caitie was also fifteen, about the same height as Becky, had very long blonde hair going lower than her shoulders, had green eyes, was a major music fan, and a really great friend of Adma's; one of her best friends to be exact. Michael was also good friends with her and she was fully aware of the way Michael felt about her.

"_It's time."_ Michael thought to himself again. This time he was sure of it. He walked down to her and said, well mumbled really because of how nervous he was doing this, "Can I talk to you?" He repeated it again so it was more clear, loud and confident than the first time.

"Ok," She replied, looking at him. She whispered something to Caitie who then walked off, leaving Adma and him partially more alone. I then spoke again, happy that things were going much better than I had expected.

"I wanted you to know that I just want to be friends, and I'm sorry..." he said in quite a quick and a bit of a panicked tone.

"For what?" she asked, sounding a bit confused of what he was saying.

Back outside Michael's mind, he had gotten out of the shower and put his school clothes on before going back into his bedroom. He turned the bedroom light on that revealed a seriously fiery-like coloured room. It was fiery-like because the wardrobe was red and yellow with black squares within the two other colours. The walls around his room matched this as they were painted with the top half red, bottom half yellow, with a black strip between the two colours. The roof though was white and had always been that way since before Michael was born on December 2nd 1992. Michael sat on his bed as he got his Mp3 player and black flip phone out of the top draw of his cream coloured cupboard, put them in the small pockets of his jumper and put on the red and dark blue necklace around his neck. It had an oval key ring on the end of it where he had his small, silver, rectangular sized, 4 gigabyte flash drive and silver key to the lock on his locker on it. After that he listened to the radio which was still on. Lying on his bed, he listened to another good song that made the day just over an alright day. After that song had finished it went to the radio hosts that were just rambling on. Michael decided to take the window of opportunity and went into the kitchen to have breakfast. He sat down at the large, round sized, brown coloured kitchen table and had a small bowl of wheat flakes cereal. It was just about 6:50 AM.

At about 7:30 AM he brushed his teeth in the bathroom, and then returned to his bed where he listened to the radio to find out what the day was going to be. Finally half an hour later the last song answered his one question, it was 72% by 8:00 AM. Michael and John both got their black shoes on their feet, put their school bags on their backs and went across the road to wait for the bus. John was only 2 minutes older than Michael; even though Michael was thought and seen to be the older one. He was about the same height as Michael. His blue eyes under his oval glasses with transition lenses went from side to side as he watched the vehicles pass by. It was surprising that he could see due to his long blonde hair almost covering his face; though it didn't going longer than the top of his neck. They both just listened to their MP3 players while they waited for the bus to turn up. About five minutes later, the bus finally turned up. It was quite long and was the colour of plain white. As always Michael entered the bus first and the first person he saw was the bus driver, Carlos. Carlos was wearing a dark blue cap so it was hard to tell how much hair he had, looked about 49 years old, wore oval glasses over his green eyes, wore a yellow top, light blue jean shorts, and black shoes.

"Good morning Michael." He said as he did every school morning.

"Good morning Carlos." Michael replied kindly like he normally did. Michael then walked up the centre of the bus before choosing his usual seat and sitting down. The bus took off up the road to collect everyone else and take them to school. In the meantime Michael thought of the rest of what happened while he listened to his MP3 player.

He was standing there in front of the girl of his dreams and was about to tell her what he always wanted to tell her. But he choked on his own words and only said, "For everything… Andrew's told me a lot."

The whole time he hardly made eye contact, looking down at the ground as he tried to think of what he was sorry for, but all he could say was, "Everything..." over and over again before asking, "How were your holidays and work experience?"

A quite short conversation went from there seeing that he didn't want to hold her up for too long. As he walked away, he put his hands out beside him for Becky and Barry to give him a high five. Becky had been best friends with Michael for about a year. Barry on the other hand had been Michael's best friend since grade 1 in 2000. They both gave him a high five each; one on the left, the other on the right. After he'd finally paid his oath to fate; just the craziest thing to come up with, he went back to his closest best friends Andrew, Kurt, Peter, and Mark to tell them what happened. These four friends were known as 'the Fellas.' They were as follows. Firstly there was Andrew. He was 15 years old, about the same height as Michael, had dark brown hair of medium length, blue eyes and was totally a ladies' man; handsome... YEAH right, no one's that handsome, He was also thought to be really rich which made him known the 'Lord of the Rich'. There was no evidence to prove such a theory though, except for the fact he owned almost every type of the newest video game console around. Then there was Kurt. He was 15 years old, was of medium build, a little bit shorter than Andrew, also had blue eyes, long, light brown bushy hair, and also was the most smartest when it came to 'Marvel' comics which made him known as the 'Lord of Marvel Comics'. Thirdly there was Peter. He was 15 years old, about as tall as Kurt, was of medium build, had straight, blonde hair of medium length, hazel eyes and was the best runner in the school. He was so famous at school and outside of school that a girl even came up and asked for his autograph (true story) which made him known as the 'Lord of Running'. Finally, last but not least there was Mark. He had short dark brown hair, was 15 years old, was about the same height as Peter, and was arm wrestling champion in the year 10 German class; he beat Arnold Schwarzenegger... well not really. I mean what 15 year old could possibly beat Arnold Schwarzenegger, and you'd think he was known as the 'Lord of Arm Wrestling' right? Wrong. Even I never understood it but he was known as the 'Lord of Boringness'. As for Michael, he was known as the 'Lord of Movies'. He knew when all the good movies were coming out at the cinema and everything in that area. Michael, Barry and Becky walked up to the four of them, awaiting his arrival. They all turned in their circle toward him with his two other companions.

"I did it." Michael said, as he met them.

"How'd it go?" "What did she say?" They asked, wanting to know everything that happened. Michael told them. That day gave him great confidence with Adma. Though no matter how hard he tried, it just wasn't enough. He felt like he was losing her, and no matter what he did, it felt like it was over.

**Chapter 2**

**Present Day**

When Michael got off the bus at Mirboo North Secondary Collage, he caught up with Peter as they walked over to their other friends. Michael told them the big news as soon as he got his chance. Once he had finished he expected a more expressed interest than he received. There was about half a minute of complete silence among the group. Michael wondered what was taking them so long. Was it really that hard to believe?

"Wow Michael. Then what happened?" Peter asked, as interested as the rest of them. His reply was the first and sounded of complete sarcasm.

"That's all that happened. I woke up after that. But it got me thinking."

"And what is that?" Andrew asked.

"Well, whether it will come true or not."

This seemed to be the one thing that could just make things worse. Michael had not seen this reaction coming. Now that he thought about it, his friends; best friends as they were, sceptical or not, would not react well to the words "come true" after talking of aliens.

"Geez Michael; firstly, you're not psychic, and secondly... ALIENS AREN'T REAL!" Kurt exclaimed at Michael. It was amazing that no one nearby was looking at him after he had made his remark. They were more interested in their own conversation which was a good thing for him.

"Michael, buddy. You're the most superstitious person I know, you sound crazy. I'm sorry but it's the truth." Peter butted in. This made Michael a bit sad knowing all too well that his friends thought of him as someone crazy. Fortunately though, after the last time he had a dream and it came true, he wasn't taking any chances. No matter how crazy it seemed.

"Well I believe what I believe, and if I believe in _Psychicism_, then that's me." Michael replied, sounding a tad bit cold without trying.

"Stop making up things that are impossible Michael, including words that have no meaning!" Kurt reputed, now sounding a bit annoyed by Michael's ongoing arguing.

"For your information Kurt it does have a meaning. It's like the expression for the ability for psychic or whatever; thank you very much." Michael spurted back at him, sticking up for himself as he always had. Most time he never needed to stick up for himself. He had friends and classmates do it for him without him asking or caring.

"That is exactly right Michael. I'm just trying to end this argument." Kurt replied briefly. He seemed not at all interested in arguing any further. The thing was that Michael had all this evidence. He of all people would never make up something like that just for attention. Unfortunately, that was how it was seen by his friends. Not many people believe in psychics or 'fate' as such but after all the things Michael had seen, guessed, and dreamt in his life up to that point, there was no other answer. With this and all he'd been through, he had three sayings and they were:

1. Everything happens for a reason.

2. Most things are never forgotten, they're just not mentioned, and…

3. There's always an upside to every downside and vice versa.

Along with these he also had five rules which were:

1. Never go looking for something you don't want to find.

2. Don't make any plans because they never go well or right. (This can only be overruled by…).

3. Trust your first thought, the thought in the back of your head or your gut feeling because it's always right (which mostly worked, but was hard to do off by heart).

4. Never ask questions you already know the answer to, and...

5. Never ask questions you don't want the answer to.

He kept these in mind; although, not fully understanding them and their ability himself. He didn't always abide them.

"Dude one other thing. Adma won't go out with you acting like that." Kurt implied, trying not to sound mean in any way. Andrew then just had to add, "She won't go out with you, full stop."

Michael looked at him in a disapproving way. He knew Adma best out of the four of them. Just like Caitie was good friends with both Adma and I, Andrew was good friends with both Adma and me.

"What? All I'm saying is the truth. That's all. Okay?" He replied.

"I know Andrew. It's just that fate's telling me all these things and no matter how hard I try to forget, or well ignore it, it keeps coming back." Michael answered, sounding quite frustrated. He just didn't know what to do or how to fix his problem. The down side even more was that he feared if he had a repeat of a previous thing with a girl he once liked, the same thing would occur... he would lose her and never see her ever again too. The only upside though was he felt so close to his ultimate dream, yet so far. That was another down side to the situation.

"Michael, she wouldn't like someone that is acting the way you are. Why don't you end it and say either 'it's over,' or 'we're meant to be together'!" Kurt pretty much yelled at Michael.

"Look Kurt, it's not that easy. I just don't know what to do-"

Michael paused as Adma walked past with a couple of her friends. He just froze as he didn't look at any of them and waited for them to walk past before continuing. Before he could, Andrew spoke before Michael could get his chance.

"Then why are you still going after her?"

"I don't know… let me rephrase that, because I, I still see something in her, and fates telling me there's still something." Michael replied, his voice getting lower.

"Michael will you stop with the-"

Kurt was interrupted by the bell ringing at quarter to nine. They all walked down to their lockers and Michael hoped for this to make Kurt forget what he was going to say. Unfortunately on the way down, Kurt continued.

"Will you stop with the whole fate thing?"

Andrew then added; "all that happens and has happened is called _coincidence_. How many times do I have to mention that?"

Michael never listened to that. He knew that all these occurrences weren't natural, so he said nothing. He knew all too well that any argument he made would be 'shut down' by the Fellas especially in this case. Becky was also with them and had heard the whole thing as well. As soon as Michael had put his bag in his locker, he and Becky went up to her locker, then straight to form assembly as they did every school morning. They were seen as the perfect couple, but they were just really good friends. The most annoying thing about this was that people; especially people in the same year as them, even more the same form class of MSA, always tried to get them to ask each other out. In form assembly, Michael sat next to Becky and waited for the teacher to finish the morning announcements on the bulletin before he told her what happened on Friday.

"I wish you were at school on Friday, or at least Barry. The Fellas were so annoying; they tried to get me to talk to Adma at recess. Then during period 4 in English, the laptop I was using stuffed up and at the same time she was putting hers away for some reason. At lunch time, Kurt and that were literally pushing me around to follow her and her friends." He said.

"Oh really, didn't you say it was over?" She replied, playing with her hair.

"That's what I thought, especially after what she told me on MSN a week earlier."

The conversation went from there and Michael told her how he talked to Adma and she told him that she didn't want anything to do with him. But after the events that followed from the Saturday before at 12:30 Saturday night/Sunday morning, it was impossible to forget. Firstly, how he kept waking up 17 (the 7th of September was when the next out of school uniform day. It was also when Michael always saw that it as best day of each month. He only ever saw Adma looking 'over attractive'; not in school uniform, on that day) minutes or 5 (out of school uniform days were always on a Friday; the 5th day of the week) minutes later between then and 2:00 AM. This was strike one. Monday night when he was on the computer and she went online at 7:00 PM which became strike two. That morning when he looked at the time and it said 9:02 and 11 seconds on his watch. Strike three. The Fellas getting him to go up and say "Hi" to her at recess (as mentioned before) on the out of school uniform day was strike four. Also his laptop not working just as she was about to put hers away created strike five. The Fellas getting him to follow her around at lunch time; strike six, and last but not least at the end of the day when he was given the chance of good timing to say goodbye to her that same day. The most annoying thing was that even though it felt sweet of his friends doing all that, he tried to avoid any sign and even Adma herself at every turn. That day when he was on the bus, he realised what mistake he made… avoiding her even though she never tried to leave from him hanging around with her and her friends.

The bell for period one rang at 9:03 AM. Everyone got up from their seats and headed out the door, leaving the classroom deserted. That day was a normal good day. Michael had Current Affairs for the first double periods; classes one and two, where he just looked through newspapers and went on the newspaper website. He found the class very interesting and the different current stories added to that. After recess he had double Robotics where he continued working on a project the class had to do. At lunch time he hung out with the Fellas and talked about different things. Period 5 after lunch, he had Media where he worked on an animation movie, and last but not least Math's period 6 where he worked on measurement questions out of his math's exercise book. It was not really that interesting. In the afternoon, he was at home on the computer by himself. His mum was late home from shopping and John had gone out to his friends place as soon as he had gotten home from school. Michael was surfing the web when a message at the bottom right corner of the computer screen came up in a small box saying, "Come to us, or we'll come to you Lord T.E.O." Michael jumped and in a few seconds the boxed message rolled back down and disappeared from the screen.

"What in god's name?' Michael said, totally shaking to death from what he had just seen. It was like he was staring into some sort of dream. He went into the message bank to find where it was. There was no recollection of the message. It had disappeared completely. At dinner that night, Michael sat around the kitchen table with his family while they ate tacos with all sorts of things in them; from cheese and lettuce to cooked, chopped up meat all in different bowls in the middle of the table. Michael didn't mention anything to any of them, knowing, or well 'fearing' that John would tease him, let alone his parents not believing him. After tea he fed Sandy then went and watched American comedy shows that he loved in his bedroom before going to sleep just about after 9:00 PM. While he was asleep, he tossed and stirred under the covers. It happened again. He was there, right in front of the ship, and then the doorway opened, a bright light came out of it and… that was it. He was awake as he had been before. This time Sandy wasn't on his bed. He looked at the time.

"_Oh no,"_ he thought as he saw it. 11:11 PM. He sat up, shaking so much he could hardly control it. He slammed his head on his pillows and tried to go back to sleep.

The next day at school, Michael and Becky were walking around the school talking about different interesting topics that came to their minds.

"I miss Madeleine. I think it'd be better if she was still here, don't you?" Michael asked Becky.

"Yeah, I miss her too. What's her home number anyway?"

"Umm, 72566168, why?" he replied.

"I thought of calling her, that's all."

"Ok then."

They ended up walking past a group of year seven and eight girls sitting in front of a closed classroom door.

"Hello Sid. Hello Becky." They said. They called Michael 'Sid because they thought he looked like a character called 'Sid' off the animated movie 'Ice Age'.

"Hey." They both replied back kindly while walking past. By that time the bell had gone for the end of lunch and soon enough time to go home. It felt like the day had gone in a matter of seconds and that night Michael talked to Andrew on MSN again. Michael told him what he believed. It was amazing how much Michael trusted Andrew seeing that Andrew couldn't keep secret's. That had been proven on many occasions in which Andrew told Adma everything Michael told him. Although Michael was aware of this, he still trusted his best friend nonetheless.

_Andrew, fate keeps showing me so much, yet I don't know whether to follow it or go against it. This is the situation I'm in… If I go with fate, I lose her. On the other hand, if I avoid her, I go against fate. I'm in a lose/lose situation. I just don't know what to do._

_Michael, I've seen you get through something harder than this. Just think of something, you're creative. Remember what__ Kurt said; a girl won't say 'Oh, Michael's being really quiet. I'd want to go out with him.' They'd say that if you were more sociable, especially with Adma at that__._

_I know._

_Then why __do you keep failing to do something then?_

_Look, I don't know. She's telling me one thing while fates telling me another… I'm just so confused._

_Like I just said, think of something. I've got to go. We'll talk about this at school okay?_

_Okay then, see ya later then_. Michael replied. Then they just kept repeating '_see ya,'_ or _'bye,'_ until Andrew finally went offline. Straight after, Michael just continued to search the web or play computer games.

A week passed and still Michael avoided Adma so many times. He also didn't mention what happened on the computer that night, or dreaming about the space ship landing on the school oval again. He was getting so frustrated about nothing going right, so he went to see the chaplain, Steve for counselling. He went to Steve's office and knocked on the cream coloured door. No one answered. He opened it that revealed quite a small room that's walls were the same colour as the door. It contained a small, yellow wall unit, four soft green chairs, a blue cupboard a little higher than the opposite wall unit, and a cream coloured desk with a black computer, papers and folders on top of it. Steve was sitting in a black desk chair in front of it. He looked about 47 years old, was a little taller than Michael, had a pretty bald head, fainted sideburns on the sides of his cheeks and wore a short sleeved top the colour of orange, dark blue jeans, black runners and round glasses.

"Hello Michael, come in." He greeted Michael in. Michael walked in and sat in one of the chairs. This was not his first arrival in seeing Steve. Once comfortable, he began telling Steve what was on his mind.

"I had this dream last week, twice in fact, and I'm afraid it might come true." I said, going to tell him what the dream was about. Though it sounded completely ridiculous, Steve listened and did not criticise my worries either.

"Oh I see. Michael don't let things like in this case, dreams get to you." He asked, seeming very intrigued. Michael told Steve the reason for why he feared it to come true. Michael was shaking so much from telling the scariest yet most true story of his life. Steve noticed how much he was shaking.

"Don't mind me asking but... you're shaking,"

"Oh, it runs in my family. I only shake this much when I'm nervous, feel sick vomit wise, or when I'm about to tell someone something personal like in this case." Michael replied. He didn't mind answering. Steve was a well trusted friend to Michael and had been by many students at the school.

"Well anyway Michael, as I was about to say, anyone would be scared if they experienced what you have experienced. I mean in the Boolarra bushfires and that. It's interesting that you think such an exquisite dream as that could possibly come-"

He was immediately interrupted as everything started suddenly shaking. Shelves began to fall over, with the books on, and in them tumbling to the ground.

"What's going on? It's an earthquake!" Steve yelled over the loud crashing and banging. Then it stopped and peace and silence fell.

**Chapter 3**

**A Big Surprise**

Both Steve and Michael looked at each other. There had never been an earthquake this bad in the region in decades.

"What was that, an earthquake?" Steve asked. He was really confused of what had just occurred. They looked out the window. Everything looked fine. There was no damage. No trees had come down. There was not even any damage to the roof of the bus shelter area or school buildings opposite his office. It was a relief. Just then an announcement came over the P.A system.

"Excuse me everyone (cough), umm, if there is anyone hurt, please let any teacher's know. Thank you."

Michael and Steve saw some students walk past the window so they went out to see them.

"Hey do you two know what's going o-"

Just then another announcement came over the P.A system.

"Excuse me again. Everyone please stay away from the football oval and _completely_ away from the space ship. Oh, and can Cassandra Alison please come to the office."

"What? What ship?" Michael said, not aware that a giant spaceship had landed on the school's football oval over on the other side of the school itself.

"Hey Michael, come to the oval! You've got to see this. Come on." Caitie called, running up behind him and Steve from the library. She pulled Michael's sleeve, almost ripping it off as she started to pull him to get him to go with her to the oval. On the way, heaps of students left the classrooms and made their way to where the action was. When they got to the oval to see what all the commotion was over, they saw everyone grouped on the hill at the football oval's edge. The oval itself was huge. It was a normal large sized football oval that looked several metres shorter than Melbourne's MCG with the ship with four large legs; one at each corner, on it. Michael remembered back to the dream he had.

"Oh geez..." he mumbled to himself so no one else could hear him. He realised the most impossible dream he had ever had in his entire life actually came true! Both he, Steve and Caitie went down and caught up with the Fellas and Adma who were standing in a group together. They were quite hidden amongst the crowd at the top of the hill, talking amongst each other. Michael and Caitie pushed through the crowd to get to them. Steve broke off from them and met with a couple of teacher there.

"Gee Michael. What did you do call them in your sleep?" said Peter in a joke as soon as we got to them.

"No guys, but look."

Mrs Jones, the schools principle turned up. She was about 48 years old, was about the same height as Steve, had short brown hair, green eyes, and was wearing a black suit and shoes.

"Excuse me. Pardon me. Let me through please." She said over and over as she tried to get through the giant crowd. She got to the front of the crowd and headed down the partly angled hill as everyone else followed behind her to the front of the ship. While all of this was going on, something finally crossed Michael's mind that he suddenly realised, "_It's happening just like in my dream!_"

Everyone stayed behind her until she stopped and stood in front of the ship where they circled around. They stood there, waiting for something to happen. The last thing they would've thought of happening was exactly what happened. The door of the ship opened, folded down and lengthened into a long ramp and a bright light came from inside it. It the next few seconds, the light disappeared to reveal three figures standing in the doorway. They walked down the ramp, stopping at the bottom and standing on the fresh green grass.

"Umm… we come in, umm… peace." Mrs Jones said in a scared voice.

"That's typical of her to say that." Michael said to Caitie who was standing next him. She gave a little smirk from his joke. There were two other shadow figures on each side of the very tall, green skinned figure that was wearing an open hooded black cloak, a dark top under his cloak and dark pants. Either than that, he just looked like a green, bald humanoid with claw like hands, three eyes, and a scar marked through the middle of his face. His guards on the other hand were disguised like ninjas; black ninjas. Their faces and hands were completely covered in black leather just like their suits. They were freaky looking as they were as black as darkness itself. Only their red eyes were visible. They held long, thin, cylinder sharp spears in their hand furthest from the figure between them. They were all scary looking from everyone's point of view. They walked straight up to the crowd without any second thought.

"We… come, in… peace." Mrs Jones repeated once more, now completely terrified from the figure now standing in front of her.

"A coin for every time I've heard that said." The green alien said to himself. His two bottom eyes stared at her while the third, placed in the centre of his forehead above the other two eyes, stared at the young crowd. He then spoke aloud.

"Hello. I am Buhn Hido of Lafiraveind on planet Firaciend in the Ontremazra galaxy, and I have come here looking for my master..."

He walked up to Mrs Jones. She cringed a bit but all he did was whispered something into her ear. She screwed up her face.

"I'm sorry. I don't know a Lord T.E.O."

Michael's heart started beating very fast and he began to shake so much from that one name.

"_How do they know that name? I created that name; an imaginary side to myself."_ Michael wondered, not able to stop shaking. The others noticed him.

"Are you alright Michael?" Caitie asked, who noticed him first. Michael just kept thinking, "_How… how? How do they know? I can't believe this. No… no, it can't be."_

"Does anyone here know a Lord T.E.O? Anyone... Is there anyone at all?" Buhn yelled into the crowd, while walking from side to side of them all. Michael got really nervous just as he was pushed out of the crowd by his friends and in front of Buhn. The alien turned to him, intrigued by this human teenage boy who came forth before him in front of everyone. Michael looked up at Buhn and their eyes met.

"And you… wait, master?" Buhn asked curiously.

"If you mean T.E.O, well then... yeah," Michael replied quickly in a stutter.

"Yes, yes. Lord T.E.O. Long story short, I had one mission."

"Which was?" Michael asked.

"To find Lord T.E.O and bring him back to my home on Firaciend."

"Okay then. There's just one thing. I'm… I've umm got… friends and all that here, and I'm scared of heights and I can't… breathe in space… can I?" Michael still stuttered.

"That can be arranged; all of it My Lord. Just think about it and get back to us. Weren't your dreams always right?" he implied, before then continuing. "By the way, if there's anything that you want, just keep your mind open. And now I must go… I may see you all later, otherwise not, and to that, a goodbye." He yelled into the crowd, his very words flew through each and every individual in the crowd. He looked down at Michael, winked at him with his third eye, then turned round and walked into his ship. The shadow guards followed behind. The ramp turned back into the door, it closed up, and the ship took off, calmly blowing all of the trees and everyone in its path as it disappeared into the distant sky, out of sight.

"Ok, did that really happen?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, it majorly did." Michael replied. He tried to hide his half worried, half exited look, but Andrew aka 'The Seer'; he was called that because he could read Michael like a book (even when Michael tried to hide his biggest secrets), noticed that Michael was more worried than anything. Everyone walked back up the hill to the school, wondering if they had been tricked, or if that ship and those 'aliens' would return and take Michael away for whatever reason they came to planet Earth for. At lunch time Michael and the Fellas hung out at the bus shelter. They were all talking, except for one of them.

"So what did you think of that Michael?" Andrew asked, "Michael? Michael?"

"Yeah… Oh… I can't believe it. I never believed in something like this to ever happen." Michael answered, coming back out of his own little world. Caitie and Adma both came up to see how he was. Adma didn't say a thing but Caitie on the other hand asked.

"Are you alright Michael? Did you somehow ask them to come and find you?"

"No. I just don't know how this could happen. Thanks for asking anyway Caitie." He replied, not exactly in a happy or conversational mood. Caitie smiled. The thing was that it bothered Michael so much that he couldn't stop thinking about it. It just didn't made sense. Caitie and Adma joined the conversation they were having. The afternoon classes went as per normal. In English, the class was asked to just work individually on the task. No one looked at Michael the same way. Michael stared at them and they looked away as soon as his eyes met. Even on the bus, no one said a word the whole way back. Michael and John got off the bus and they saw that neither their mum nor their Dad was home.

"I didn't know mum went shopping today. Oh shoot, I forgot to write hash browns on the board... oh, and sausages too." Michael complained; his favourite food was sausages and he hadn't had them in a fair while. He pulled out his keys on a small silver key ring. It was a wonder why he didn't have them on his necklace. The key ring was about the size of a twenty cent piece and had two silver keys and one gold key on it that were to different doors around the house, including one for the front security door and another for the front door. The third silver key; the smallest of the lot, was for the padlock on the shed door around the back. Michael opened the white front door and walked into the front room or 'computer room' as it was known as. Opposite the front door was the computer and black surround sound speakers on a long black desk. There was a CD case shelf with about ten rows of CD's in them above the black, flat screen computer monitor. To the left of the front door was a brown wooden desk, and to the right was the doorway leading into the kitchen. There were two grey wheelie chairs; one at the computer desk the other at the other desk at the side of the door. John put his bag away in his bedroom before having a peanut butter sandwich on multigrain bread. He then went out to a friend's place after that, even though it was raining. Mary never liked them going out on rainy days. He never told Michael where he was going, but in the meantime, Michael was happy to be at home by himself and have the freedom to just sit at the computer and play games, surf the web and socialise on MSN, MySpace or online games. No matter how happy Michael was, he couldn't get what happened that very day out of his head. It was the hardest thing to forget. He's possible future leaving planet Earth to rule his own planet. Just then he realised something. His parents weren't home yet. His brother had gone out. He was by himself. Now was his chance to make a phone call to his good friend Madeleine. This was handy seeing that the cream coloured home phone was right next to the computer. The numbers were on the left and centre of the flat base and the phone pad, and the phone itself was on the right. Michael picked up the phone. Sandy came in and started circling Michael who was still sitting in the chair, purring her little heart out. He reached down to pat her as she kept turning back and forth to allow him to pat her more.

"Hello?" Someone on the other end said through the phone as soon as he put it up to his ear.

"Hey, who's this?" Michael asked even though the voice sounded familiar.

"Madeleine. I can't believe you can't tell by my voice."

"Oh, hey Madeleine, funny thing, I was just about to call you." Michael replied; shaking a bit. He just got a call from the person he was planning to call himself. That was a first.

"Oh really, that is funny. My step dad told me about some aliens coming to the school after you. That's why I decided to call you."

"Yeah it was the strangest thing. I was telling Steve about having these dreams about a giant spaceship coming and landing at the school-"

"Wait. Are you saying you saw it coming?" She asked him curiously.

"Ah, yeah." he continued, "And they wanted me to go and stay at they're planet in another dimension or galaxy! I just don't know whether I should or not."

"Good point. I mean choosing whether to go into space to another planet or stay and have a 'normal' life; that would be a hard choice."

"You've got that right. So what do you think I should do?"

"Michael I've known you for a fair good while. I know the choice you make will be the right one." She finished, and then continued, "I've got to go."

"Ok then. See you later." Michael replied back. Then he put the phone back just at the time when Mary opened the door. Sandy jumped off of him and ran out of the computer room.

"Hey mum; John's gone out." He said. Then he got up out of the chair and went out to the dark blue Holden commodore VR station wagon to get the groceries out of the boot. All the food and items were in quite large and heavy shopping bags. Most of them were pink with the rest purple. He and Mary both went to and fro between the kitchen in the house and the back of the car, taking the bags of shopping out and putting them on the kitchen table inside. After that was done, Michael took the shopping out of the seven bags and put them away in their rightful place which took him about ten minutes to do. John got away with that so often it became a little annoying. Michael then turned the computer off and he and Mary sat on the nice, large, soft, comfy light grey couch in the lounge room. It went just about as long as the back wall, to the left corner and up around to the doorway.

"Mum, you'd never believe what happened today." Michael said while they were watching a show on DVD.

"What?' She asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but anyway, a giant spaceship landed on the oval an-"

"What? A what? Are you serious Michael?"

"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"I don't…. I just don't."

"Mum, I was fully awake. Over a hundred people were there; two hundred even. They saw it… met Buhn an-"

"Who's Buhn? What sort of name is Buhn?" She interrupted once more.

"His the alien that-"

"So if I asked John, he would tell me the same thing."

"Yeah and yeah, he would." Michael argued back.

"Okay then."

She then got up off the couch and walked off thinking,

"_Whatever you say Michael... Everyone knows there's no such thing as aliens. You've really gone crazy now." _She thought.

Later when John got home, Mary asked him about what happened at school.

"Nothing much, why?" he answered, looking at Mary with the strangest look on his face. She hardly ever asked him questions about his day.

"I was just wondering. Michael said that aliens came to the school to see him. Is that true?"

"Yeah but I don't think it... well they were aliens from out of space though." Just then Michael entered the conversation after over hearing it from in his bedroom. He had a habit of eavesdropping.

"John, if you think it wasn't real, then how did they know about T.E.O, eh?

"Michael… THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS ALIENS!" John yelled back trying to get Michael to see sense. I was just reminded of Kurt telling me the same thing, hours before he was proven wrong.

"You really had to yell that?" Michael replied in a sarcastic tone. He gave a short laugh after it.

"Why did they leave huh? Why in the world did they leave?"

"They left?" Mary said in amazement. Michael turned his back to them, and put his head down just as the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Michael answered and went to the white cordless phone in his parent's bedroom down the other end of the house. Then he realised it was going off in his pocket. He got it out and flipped it open. As soon as he put it up to his ear...

"Did you have anything to do with that?" Someone asked through his mobile phone.

"No." Michael answered, wondering who this unknown caller was. The number was one had did not have. "Why?"

"Go into your bedroom. But don't let your brother or parents know who this is."

That was easy. He didn't even know who it was. Michael did as they asked. He went into his bedroom and sat on his bed.

"May I know who this is?"

"It's Caitie. I just had to let you know that Adma's furious."

"How come she is? What in the world has this got to do with me?" He asked.

"She thinks that this could lead to something she doesn't want…" Caitie paused a bit, and then said, "... ask Andrew. I bet she's told him." She suggested.

"Okay then, thanks. Just tell me, did I dream what happened today with the ship, the aliens, and my fate to go to a planet in another galaxy?"

"No that did happen. Tell me, do you still love her?"

"Is that a trick question? Of course I do. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her."

John turned up at Michael's doorway and caught the end of his sentence.

"Who're you talking to?"

"John, go away."

"Who; who is it?" John kept asking over and over.

"Give him your phone." Caitie said.

"Do you really want to talk to him? Okay then."

Michael handed John his mobile phone.

"Hello, who's this?" John asked, but there was no answer. All John did was looked at Michael with a screwed up look on his face.

"What?"

"They hung up." John said.

"Okay then, that's weird." Michael said, although he was thinking "_Well done Caitie."_

"Your friends are weird and I can't believe your friends with them." John replied nastily. Michael ignored him knowing his reason why he was friends with them. Unlike his brother, "I see the good sides of people and get around the bad, weird, strange and or different to normal things about them."

"Tea is ready." Mary called from the kitchen. Michael and John went to have tea; also called dinner. On four plates were peas, corn, baked chips, and sausages; three on Michael's, two on George's and John's, and one on Mary's. After dinner, Michael went back on the computer and to his surprise and 'non Psychicism,' Kurt was on MySpace, so he talked to Kurt about school and how he wished so much for things to go right in his life; relationship wise.

"Michael, just go up and tell her. Geez it's not that hard!"

"I know it's-"

John came out into the computer room to see what Michael was doing on the computer.

"What are you doing?" He asked. Seeing that Michael didn't trust his own brother for good reasons, he minimised the message of his conversation with Kurt, then turned around in the chair and faced John.

"Nothing, just talking to Kurt," he said. John gave a disgusted look then walked out.

_"Ha, I knew that'd work."_ He thought to himself. John didn't like many, let alone any of Michael's friends and thought they were all strange in certain ways. After an incident when Michael invited Kurt to sleep over, John didn't get along well with him, which was quite unfortunate for Michael seeing that Kurt was his most trusted and 'first' best friend. Well it was out him or Andrew. Michael didn't know for sure which one was his 'first' best friend.

Days passed slowly as they always had and things at MNSC weren't going as well as Michael had hoped. He'd hoped that people would finally believe in the impossible, but he found something more devastating.

"Do you think they'll come back?" He asked the Fellas.

"Who?" replied Andrew.

"The aliens-"

"What aliens? There's no such thing aliens Michael!" Kurt said once again.

"But the ship… Buhn Hido… What happened on Thursday; are you saying that never happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Michael. I've never seen aliens in my entire life." Kurt finished there.

"Neither have we. Are you sure it wasn't another dream you had?" the others asked. This made no sense. It was like they'd forgotten the whole thing. Michael started to worry.

"_Was it all a dream? Did I just dream the ship landing on the oval and everything again?" _He wondered. He tried mentioning it anyone he knew but whoever he asked denied it happening. It was like they were hypnotized, or Michael had just fallen into another world; but that just sounded ridiculous. He went to see Steve to figure out if it was him, or this nightmare was one he could not run from.

"Hmm Michael, it might be that they don't want to believe in such a thing and true to say I remember the whole thing." Steve consulted him. Michael calmed down. He was relieved that it was not just in his head.

"Thanks Steve. I just thought I was going crazy or something." He replied calmly.

"That's alright." Steve replied.

That afternoon Michael _finally_ got home after a hard and tiring day. He was tired and even hurt in some places, which was weird and confusing because he never did any sport that day or any day that year.

"Hey mum." He said as he walked through the kitchen, then through the tall, thin hallway and into his bedroom where he put his bag away and then lied on his bed. John came to his doorway.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah." he sighed. He had one thing on his mind before he got disrupted. He had his eyes closed and just listened. "What do you want John?"

"Are you going to go on the computer?"

"No why… John… John… John?" he kept asking, but no one answered. He opened his eyes and noticed that John had gone.

"_Oh. That makes sense."_ He thought as he laid there thinking of Adma, though he didn't mention a thing about it.

**Chapter 4**

**Final Decision**

Days later, things at school were average which seemed better. The incident with the aliens and the ship had passed everyone's minds and was forgotten or just not mentioned. Michael on the other hand never forgot about it and always kept wondering why no one thought about it, or why nothing was said about it, until something clicked into his mind. The past experiences with 'aliens' ended the same way… conspiracy.

"Everything that's happened has happened for a reason. No one remembers it because the aliens made everyone forget about it so they didn't have the press, FBI, police or anyone here!" Michael exclaimed excitedly to the Fellas. They were not even listening to him in the first place. The only person who was listening was Mark and all he said was "Oh" in a short, yet bored tone. Now I understood why he was the 'Lord of Boringness'. He always looked bored though he did have an interesting life nonetheless. They were all standing in a group. After that, nothing ever felt the same again. Michael was standing there and for the first time the others took notice of him; strangely though, but still the upside was that they were looking at him. He had a shifty look in his almost flickering eyes, like he was suspicious. They soon found out he was.

"What's wrong Michael?" Peter asked first.

"_Wait for it... Wait for it." _Michael thought to himself, off in his own little world. The other four had no idea what had happened to him. Was he going to do or say anything, or just stand there frozen? Had he turned into some sort of zombie? All these things were going through their minds. Then Michael finally spoke.

"Can't you hear that?"

"What?"

"I suggest you hold onto something."

"What?" They repeated, not knowing what he was on about. They thought Michael was out of his mind. It was a clear day; no clouds in the sky, just blue sky and a burning bright winter sun. Then it came. It came just as Michael had heard. The giant spaceship flew over the whole school in a circle before landing on the oval once again. Michael left his friends and ran over to the oval. The Fellas followed, trying their best to catch up to him. Once they got there, they saw that everyone had ran over to the oval again too, but instead of the ships 'back door' being closed and Buhn Hido and his guards staying inside the spaceship, they were outside it, waiting for everyone to turn up. At that moment something came to Michael's mind, his dream! It kept crossing mind again.

"Yet seen better then when I dreamt it." Michael said to himself in a joke.

"Really..." Caitie replied. She turned up behind the lot of them with Adma. Michael got embarrassed from her hearing him.

"What's going on now?" Caitie asked. They all just stood at the top of the hill until Michael noticed Buhn wave at them to come down. Mrs Jones was there and stood in front of the seven of them.

"Don't go down there. I don't feel that it's going to go well. Stay here, I'll talk to them first and see what they're back for." She said.

"Okay then," Michael replied. The thing was that he knew why they were back; to take him to their home in another galaxy. He got a bit nervous and started to feel a little queasy in the stomach. Peter noticed him and asked if he was alright.

"Yeah, it's just… all this. I never thought I'd be choosing to stay or leave my one home where I thought I'd stay for the rest of my life. On Earth I mean."

"What are you going to-?"

"Sorry to interrupt Andrew but here's the thing. They want Michael to go with them."

"I knew that." Michael answered in a low and unhappy voice.

"They want you to go down there."

Michael stood there for a bit wondering whether he should or not; it was a very hard decision. Then he came up with the most cunning idea. He turned to Adma, Kurt, Andrew, Peter, Mark Caitie, Barry and Becky who also joined him, making up nine of his friends.

"Follow me down. I want a proper goodbye." He said. The sound of that made his friends believe he was about to make a terrible decision. At the bottom of the hill at the ship, Buhn and his two black ninja guards were watching and waiting.

"_He thinks he can outsmart us. He has no idea that we have technology that knows what he's thinking."_ Buhn thought to himself. Once Michael and his friends got to the bottom of the hill, escorted by Mrs Jones, he was thinking of how good this plan was, getting his friends to come down with him. This would make Buhn unsure on whether Michael was going to stay or leave. The only downside was he himself didn't even know what his final decision was going to be. He was getting anxious and he hoped to see his other two friends Tony and Madeleine; they didn't go to Mirboo North Secondary Collage. Once they were at the bottom of the hill, the rest of the school followed.

"Greetings My Lord; have you made your decision?" Buhn asked kindly. Michael just looked at him, not saying a word. He was hoping for Buhn to read his mind and see the idea he had.

"Well?" Buhn asked. Everyone was quiet. It was like Michael was lost for words. He knew exactly what he was doing. He winked at Buhn who just stared back.

"Well, have you decided? Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, and I want my friends to come too." Michael replied. There was another awkward silence before Buhn spoke once more.

"Well then, who do you want to come with you?"

Michael turned and faced the crowd who were as silent as a tiger in the night, waiting for what he was going to say.

"Ah, well... Barry, Andrew, Kurt, Peter, Mark, John, Caitie, Becky..." Michael began. He then paused for a bit, wondering whether to mention the last name.

"... and Adma too." he finally finished. The crowd started to murmur but then,

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone went quiet. Michael turned to Buhn once again, but to everyone's surprise it was Andrew who yelled out.

"Andrew, what is it?" Michael asked. Andrew walked up so close to Michael that a beetle wouldn't be able to pass between them.

"Are you crazy? I mean yeah, you going into space, probably dying from no oxygen, but bringing us? Let me rephrase that,"

His voice was getting louder as he said, "ASKING US TO COME WITH YOU! ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"Yeah but-" Michael tried to interrupt, but he was weakened and almost deafened from Andrew's yelling. The strange thing was that even though Andrew sounded very annoyed, he was whispering things like "I'm in," yelling again, then adding "So is Peter." and so on before he mentioned one name last... "Adma wants to come with us as well." then yelling, "So you are _CRAZY_ for thinking we will come with you out into space!"

When he finished he winked at Michael who took that as a sign that Andrew as well as all the people he asked to come with him all agreed to come. He thought that was awesome and thought of them as crazy but very kind. The only other thing on his mind was the last person he mentioned.

"_God damn it! Awesome, you leave the best till last Andrew, nice move."_ He thought. He never expected the one thing he thought he'd never hear in a million years. He started to shake so much he couldn't help it.

"Are you alright Michael?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah I am."

But he wasn't. He was going into some sort of shock... so he felt. All his dreams and for some reason one fear (the fact of his fate being to leave his very home and take his dream girl with him) had all come true. Buhn spoke.

"Ok then, we will give you 24 hours to decide whether you'll stay or come with us for sure Lord T.E.O."

Everyone headed back up the hill. It was over... for now.

"Buhn." he said.

"Yes My Lord? What is it?" Buhn asked, turning around. His shadow men had already entered the ship, leaving Buhn and Michael in privacy.

"You knew what choice I was going to make didn't you?"

"Yeah, and we will do the other thing too."

"Thanks." Michael replied. For the second time, the ship took off and Michael watched it fly away into the distant atmosphere once more. The day fell silent and all that could be heard was the bell that rang for the end of lunch and the start of period 5. Michael didn't say much the rest of the day. Yet he was talking to himself in his head.

"Hey Michael, how long until the bell," Caitie asked him which interrupted his train of thought. He looked at the time on his watch. It said 3:11 p.m. It was only six minute until the end of the day.

"Oh g_eez..." _Michael thought to himself, and then said, "It's eleven past three."

"Okay, thanks Michael." She replied. The thing on Michael's mind now was what just occurred. His conspiracy about 11!

As 3:17 came around six minutes later and the end of the day was drawing closer than ever, the bell rang. As always, Michael was so organised. He got his folders and pencil case and left inside the first ten seconds after the bell finished ringing. On his way down to his locker he caught up with Andrew.

"Hey, what the heck was that at lunch time?" I asked him.

"What?"

"The-"

"Hey guys. What you got planned this weekend?" Kurt interrupted.

"Don't you mean in… let's see, it's 3:20 PM now… so-"

"What are you trying to add up now Michael? Just say in two days for goodness sake and stop being a giant nerd." Kurt interrupted.

"Just because I have a lot of time on my hands and act like a mass nerd at something that I don't mind doing, not to mention are 'famous' for, doesn't mean I'm trying to be better than anyone else in this world." Michael exclaimed back. What he meant by what he was 'famous' for was how he was like the only one that was ever asked what the time was every day. Everyone had gotten their bags and left.

"See ya tomorrow Michael." Andrew said, as he grabbed his bag out of his locker not far from Michael's and left.

"See ya Andrew."

Michael was really feeling down, but didn't understand why. He was going on a giant adventure with all of his friends and the one girl he ever loved that year. He should be happy, but frustration was annoying him, then things just got worse, yet better.

"_Oh geez_," Michael thought as he got his bag out and his pencil case fell out of his locker and hit the floor. As he went to pick it up. At the same time he noticed a small folded up piece of paper under it. He put it in the left pocket of his jumper just as he heard someone coming. He looked up and saw the most amazing and wonderful sight. There was Adma walking past him heading to her locker. Michael slowly picked up his pencil case while being taken away by her 'beauty', but only for a couple of seconds.

"_Talk to her. Come on, this is what you've wanted. Just say something."_

"Hey." He said.

"Hi." She replied.

"So what, ah... do you think of, ah, the aliens coming from out of space after me?"

"Well pretty crazy, you know because I never thought aliens would exist. The only thing I wonder is why they'd choose you."

"Yeah that's crazy. Well, I'll see ya tomorrow then. Oh by the way Adma..."

"Yes Michael?" She replied. Michael froze for a bit.

"Aren't you on the bus tonight?"

Just to mention they didn't go on the same bus.

"No. My mum's picking me up. I've got a doctor's appointment in Morwell. How come you're not on the bus?"

"I've got a chiropractor appointment in Traralgon; you know that place next to the fire station."

"Are you talking about that small house?"

"Yeah, right there." Michael replied.

The conversation went from there as walked with each other to the front of the school. It was enjoyable just having a decent conversation with her without any special agenda.

"How come your brother's not here?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. Oh don't tell me he forgot. He always ends up doing that. I don't know if he does it on purpose or if he can't help it and has the brain of a monkey."

They both laughed as they stood outside the main office on the grass at the top of a small hill. It led down to a roundabout at the front of the school. Michael's mum was the first to turn up not long after. She was in the Holden commodore with the window down, blearing out her favourite classic and variety music as she turned into the roundabout and stopped in front of them both.

"Hey… where's John?" She asked Michael, still sitting in the car; now with the music turned down.

"I don't know-" Michael answered just as his phone started to vibrate and he opened it up. He got a message from John. It said,

"_Where are you? Mum's coming to pick us up. We're going to the chiropractor 2nite."_

"It's from John. He told me that you're picking us up which I already know." Michael answered. Then he texted John back saying,

_"I'm at the front of the school. Where are you? Mum's here."_

"I just texted him back asking where he is."

"Well I've got to go. My mum just turned up." Adma said, pointing to the dark silver four wheel drive that was parked not far up the car park from where they were.

"Okay, I'll see ya tomorrow then."

"Yeah, see ya." She replied. Michael turned round and went back to the school to find John just as his phone vibrated again. It was another message from John which this time said,

"O_k then. I'm on my way there."_

Michael went back to the car and got in the front passengers seat next to Mary.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"He said he's on his way."

"And who was that you were talking to?" Mary asked him.

"Oh a friend of mine… kind of." he replied.

"Okay then. What do you mean by kind of?"

"Well… I really like her but she doesn't feel the same way… I don't think."

"How do you know if you don't try? Have you asked her?"

Michael looked back at her, not sure whether he should tell her that he knew it would never happen. The only way it would was if she felt the same way and fate would take its hold and start a new beginning. Mary just stared at him, waiting for some sort of reply. Then it finally came. John came walking to the car.

"This conversation isn't over." Mary said to Michael. John got in the car and they drove out to Traralgon.

That night Michael looked at the note he put in his pocket. It said,

_Michael_

_ This was the only way I could communicate to you, but I had to. Just to let you know the reason why you have been the one chosen to come and rule our planet Firaciend is because you have a power like none other and that power has drawn us to you to be the one to end what may have been started._

_ Buhn_

Michael read over it and wondered why he was the 'chosen one'. It was weird and hard to understand. The part about having some ultimate power like none other confused him more. He kept it on his mind for that night and didn't worry about until the time it would be answered. He expected that would be the next day. He was anxious that whole day and by the end of lunch, his expectation of an ultimate future dwindled. He was confused. He wanted this, hoping that Michael could return anytime anyway. It worsened once the weekend came. After the weekend sadly, even though Adma was going to come with Michael and everyone else, things were still awkward between them both. This took his mind off the delayed visit. It was like something was getting between them, keeping them apart, never to be together. Although there was only one line of hope left… his conspiracy about 11. How much he tried not to think about it; leaving home and having no choice except for giving up and forgetting about it still lingered around him. It then occurred when he least expected it, giving him reason to notice it like the very words saying, 'It's not over. There's still a chance. Never lose hope or face the consequences.' It was driving him mad. One morning, Mary changed the channel and Michael noticed that the time on the morning news show was 7:11 AM. That night she asked John what the time was who answered "9.11 PM." He didn't know what to do. Adma was making it seem like she didn't want anything to do with him. She had told him over and over and if it wasn't for his very conspiracy, his feelings for her wouldn't have gone this far. It came to a time when he felt so bad, he had to talk to someone, and Steve was the only one he could talk to. He went to Steve's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Steve's voice answered from behind the door. Michael opened the door.

"Hey Steve." he said.

"Hello Michael, how are you?"

"Alright... It's just that I feel like my heads going to explode and everything I've noticed makes sense, but doesn't make sense."

"Okay Michael. Tell me, what do you mean?"

Michael told Steve about everything and finished with, "so that's why I haven't given up or forgotten about her. It's like there's some sort of connection but the other half of it doesn't make sense ".

Steve looked at him, intrigued of what was just said to him and kind of confused being told such a thing.

"Oh… Okay then Michael."

He paused a bit, not knowing what exactly he should say. Michael was just sitting there, really frustrated.

"Michael, I'm sorry I can't say much. All I can say is that you should give this a chance to reveal itself and take Madeleine's advice to let her and fate to come to you."

There was an awkward silence until a strange sound began to echo through the school like a huge plane was about to fly over it again for the third time.

"_There back, finally."_ Michael thought. "Thanks Steve." He said.

"You're welcome Michael. What is that? Is that what I think it is?" Steve said. They both were just able to see the ship fly over the school shadowing every part of it.

"It's back! It's back!" Michael kept yelling over and over again, running outside and just catching a glimpse of it landing on the oval. Both he and Steve walked over to the oval to meet Buhn Hido and everyone else.

**Chapter 5**

**Secrets Revealed**

Once they got to the oval where the ship had landed, they looked down and saw Buhn, his two ninja guards, and two other figures that Michael couldn't easily recognise. Still they looked very familiar. Everyone else came up behind them not long after.

"They're back, finally." Michael said, this time repeating it quietly to himself before he was interrupted by a voice that came into his head, well sounded like it was in his head.

"Go down there Michael." Andrew whispered in his ear.

"What?"

"Go down there."

"Oh, yeah, of course." he replied. He went down there and everyone else followed. Michael tried so hard but had trouble in figuring out who the other two figures were that he saw when he was up on the hill. He could not put his finger on it, as they were hiding behind Buhn and his guards.

"Hey master. Everything's ready. We just need to know who's coming with you for sure."

Michael looked behind him and saw all his friends and his brother standing behind him.

"Okay then. Let's see…" Michael answered, thinking very hard. He then and then named them as he looked at each of their faces. They all nodded their heads after Michael called each of their names.

"Didn't you forget someone Michael?" A familiar voice said from behind the right ninja guard.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, didn't you forget someone?" Another familiar voice said behind the ninja on the left. They both came out and revealed themselves. It was Madeleine and Tony, two of Michael's other closest best friends. Tony was 15 years old, a bit taller than Michael, had short brown hair, sideburns on his face, and black eyes, wearing a black T shirt and black jeans. Madeleine was 16 years old, pretty shorter than Michael, with long dark brown hair tied back in a long pony tail, and wearing a dark grey hooded jumper with pink, grey and black hearts on it, dark blue jeans and black shoes.

"Hey Michael." they both said, one after the other. Then Tony said, "Big surprise eh?"

Michael was left ecstatic. I was glad to see them both. They had already been acquainted.

"Yeah… I mean, it's wonderful to see you two."

He turned to Buhn.

"_Thank you."_ He thought. To his amazement Buhn's voice replied back in his head, "_No worries master," _and smiled at him.

"Guys this is Tony, an old, old, old, old, old, old, old friend from primary school. And you should all know Madeleine." He said, as he introduced both Tony and Madeleine. After that, Madeleine went up and gave Michael a quick hug.

"Shall we get going then?" Buhn said, as he thought time was getting short and they'd have to leave quite soon so not too much attention was drawn on their arrival and presence. They all got in the ship and it took off into the distant sky above. The back door was in the one and only hanger. It was quite large, but quite empty with an automatic sliding door at the other end. It opened, revealing a room with a circle of elevator doors around it. Buhn began to walk towards the door at the end and everyone followed.

"Michael, where're we going?" Kurt asked. Michael didn't answer.

"Michael, are you still with us?" Peter then asked, hoping to get an answer. Michael still gave no reply. He was keeping to his promise that Buhn had asked him, which was not to tell them anything, but Michael didn't know anything anyway, so it was hard to understand why he was asked to not tell them.

"Andrew, get through to Michael please." Mark asked. So Andrew said the first thing that came into his mind.

"Michael, you know Bethany who you used to like. She liked you the same way."

Michael's eyes widened. His heart started to beat fast.

"_That name… it couldn't be true… she said she never wanted anything to do with me! God damn it… What did you do? You let her go and leave, never to see her again!"_ He thought. Bethany turned out to be his first crush back in primary school. She had found out that he liked her and long story short they ended up as half girlfriend, half boyfriend. Michael had never understood that whole arrangement but did not care about it. It went well for a few months of late 2004, early 2005, until one faithful day when they had a falling out. Michael remembered back that day, thinking ahead to 2007 when his feelings returned and he tried to win her back. Nothing worked and on that faithful day when she moved schools; not due to Michael's ambitions, he then saw the truth, turning his attention to Adma.

"Really?" he finally answered.

"Yeah, but she didn't want you to know for that reason. For the fact she didn't know whether she could trust you to keep it secret either." Andrew said.

"_Andrew why in the world are you telling me this now for about nine months after that ended?"_ Michael thought to himself, beginning to be annoyed, and then said, "WHY DIDN'T YOU… WHY?"

"Because I promised not to say it, I'm sorry, alright."

"And does that mean that she really said she did miss me?" Michael asked, getting frustrated.

"Michael, it's over. She's gone. You're never going to see her again so it doesn't matter." Kurt said, trying to get Michael to calm down and forget it. This was even worse timing seeing that Adma had heard the whole thing.

"If you lot are done, I can now say this way. This is the elevator room where you can get to any part of the ship. Everyone go inside please." Buhn said. Everyone went inside the elevator. Amazingly it was big enough for everyone to fit in. The doors closed.

"Hang on."

The elevator took off through the ship until it finally stopped. On the inside it felt like a normal elevator just moving nice and slow but about two seconds later the doors opened to reveal a control room. This room had one row of benches of electronics on each side of the room with black ninjas working at them, though these ninjas had their completely black faces uncovered and looked quite scary to Michael and his friends.

"This is the control room of the ship." Buhn explained. The first thing Andrew noticed was that out the windows was what looked to be black sky, with tiny white dots in it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Andrew asked.

"Yes, it's space and a whole lot of it too. More than billions and billions of light years of space, and no one has ever been everywhere." Buhn replied softly. Michael noticed something else in that space. It was hard to make out, but it looked to be some sort of space ship similar to the one they were in, yet somewhat larger.

"This is Buhn Hido of the Star Ship Euthana, requesting permission to land in hanger bay 1, 8, 2, 4." Buhn said into the communicator.

"Okay Buhn. Shields are down. You have permission to land." The voice said from the communicator. Michael was amazed and overwhelmed by this technology. The ship got closer and closer to this huge 'mother ship' and landed in the hanger, where the communicator said, "Welcome aboard the Star Ship Resavolar General Hido."

Once it had landed perfectly, Buhn went back to elevator and once again got the newcomers to follow.

"_I can't believe this. Being in a spaceship… Make that two, and going on an adventure."_ Michael thought as they went back to the hanger, out the back door of the ship, and into the hanger bay they landed in. The hanger was way bigger than the one on the Star Ship Euthana. It was so big it would've been able to fit about fifty ships the size of the one they had arrived in. Inside this hanger were many fighter space ships. These black, metal ships were quite long, with the wings on each side about a quarter of the length of the ship that had laser cannon guns stuck under the wings; one up at one end and one on the other end of each wing with a small turret on the bottom of the nose of the ship as well. There were also black soldier men; like the ones on at the controls on the Star Ship Euthana that were wearing black, cylinder helmets with dark grey stripes going down where their cheeks were.

"Are those fighter ships?" Caitie asked.

"Yep, state of the futuristic art… well for you futuristic, for us just state of the art. Cost us millions of money to get." Someone added who wasn't Buhn or any of his men. It was a man with black soldier guards beside him. This man was about the same height as Andrew, looked like he was in his forty's, had a medium build and was wearing a brown cloak covering his dark brown, almost maroon coloured top and grey pants with the only part of clothing that was uncovered being his black shoes on his feet. The strangest things about him were that he looked like he was wearing a light brown wig on his head and he wasn't alien at all, but human.

"Ah Sam Numa, it's good to see you. This here is the legendary Lord T.E.O and-"

"And who are all these people with him?" Sam interrupted before Buhn could finish.

"They're his... ah friends Sam. He is the master or well the lord so it's his choice-"

"Yes, yes, I know that Buhn. I was just wondering. It's good to see you My Lord."

Then he thought "_They must really care about him,_" then continued, "I am Sam Numa. Welcome aboard the Star Ship Resavolar." He said, introducing himself and the ship they were now aboard. After he did so, he led all of them to the elevator that went up to the next floor. The elevator doors opened, revealing a long narrow hallway with rows of doors on both sides of the dark red walls at each side of a light grey roof.

"This is floor one; the bedroom's floor. At the end are the toilets which are on every floor. The bedrooms have your names on the doors so you know which room is yours." Sam explained then paused for a little bit. An awkward silence came over them all before Sam turned to Buhn and asked, "Didn't you tell them-"

"Tell us what?" Andrew interrupted; he had a real knack for doing that.

"Well we left that day to organize everything. In other words we copied the main frame of all of your houses put them together to create this."

He pulled out some kind of small, round, silver device out of the left pocket of his cloak that opened up and showed a hologram of the ship.

"This is it. As you can see there are different floors, from rooms which we have taken, well copied or so from your houses and put each of them on the different floors. There's the bedrooms floor (1), kitchen and dining room floor (2), games and entertainment floor (3), living room floor (4), bathroom floor (5), laundry floor (6), and last but not least the outdoor and backyard floor (7). Yes I'm not joking. Yes you can ride your motorbikes in a bush and drive wherever you want; only where you have been on Earth, and yes this is heaven and it took us ages to do. In case you get lost just think of where you want to go and you will automatically know where to go. Oh and if you want to go to any hanger all you need to do is type in 8 1 then the four digit number of the hanger. And last but not least if you want to go back to Earth for any reason just go to the outdoor floor and drive or ride along the road or through the bush and think of where you want to go and you will get there. And just think when you want to come back and you will be able to get back."

After mentioning all that, he finally finished and led them to the bridge of the ship. It was identical to the control room of the Star Ship Euthana, though one difference was it was larger and had more rows of electronics. The similarities were the same walkway through the middle of it the rows.

"This is the bridge of the ship. As you can tell it's similar yet different to the bridge of the Star Ship Euthana." Sam said. They walked along the walkway following Sam before he paused and turned around.

"That's the end of the tour. You can now go wherever you want and do whatever you want as long as you don't break anything or do anything stupid."

Everyone left the bridge, headed into the elevator and went their spate ways from there.

That night everyone went to the dining room floor for dinner. It was very big, cream coloured and there were doors on both sides where people could get in and out. There were cupboards with plates, bowls, cups, glasses, and everything you'd find in a kitchen above long rows of benches. Under the benches were draws full of cutlery and all types of things used for cooking and eating in a kitchen. The most amazing thing was in the middle of all this was a long, brown coloured wooden rectangular table. It was huge. It also had furry maroon coloured chairs on both sides of it; fifteen on each side and two on each end equalling a total of what Michael counted to be thirty four chairs altogether.

"Wow, I could do with this." Tony laughed.

"Yeah that's for sure. Heaven for the rest of our lives, I can see it now just doing absolutely bugger all and have-"

"Magnificent isn't it." Buhn interrupted Kurt and Tony as he came up behind them. "Well go sit down."

Everyone sat down at the table muttering among each other until the most interesting thing happened. Food appeared right in front of them out of thin air. It was like magic. There was all this food. From sausages and kebabs to peas and corn; everything looked delicious. They ate, drank and talked the whole time; it got quite loud. At the end, Michael stood up out of his seat to make a toast.

"Excuse me everyone. May I have your attention?"

Everyone went quiet before he continued. He was shaking a bit doing this but it didn't bother him.

"I'd just like to make a toast to Buhn Hido and Sam Numa for this wonderful dinner and I hope this adventure is as enjoyable as it can get. I've only ever been away from home two to three days or so, so I hope I can take it." He laughed. So did everyone else at the table.

"Cheers." He said, raising his glass.

"Cheers." They all repeated after him raising their glasses too. After that, everyone went back to talking to each other and Michael sat back down. After dinner, all of his friends went to the games and entertainment floor but he didn't follow. He stayed at the table with Buhn and Sam who were talking to each other up the other end of the table.

"Master, aren't you going to go with your friends?" Sam asked him.

"Yeah, I just firstly wanted to say something-"

"We know, and thanks for that toast. With what you're going ask, you'll find out when the time is right master."

"Okay then."

"Now go. I see you're tired."

Michael didn't think it was that obvious. He was trying to hide the fact he was so tired he wouldn't be able to make it to his bed on the first floor.

The next thing Michael remembered was this. He was lying on his bed listening to his MP3 player when Adma walked to his bedroom doorway.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey, come in if you want." He replied as he sat up so she could sit next to him on his bed. She was wearing light blue jeans, a grey hooded jumper and small round gold earrings in her ears. She sat down on his bed next to Michael. The strangest and funniest thing at this moment was that Michael wasn't shaking at all.

"Thanks. How are you?" She asked.

"Alright I guess. I'm sorry too." Michael replied.

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for everything. Avoiding you, not talking to you, asking you to come into space with me on this ship,"

"Oh." she said.

"Yeah, and I'm annoyed that I never had the guts to tell you." He finished in a sad and depressed voice. She put her hand gently on his back. At that, Michael's heart started beating really fast as he looked into her gorgeous eyes.

"You did have the guts Michael, so don't feel so down."

"What do you mean I had the guts?" He asked her confusingly as she got back up and started to walk out. She stared back at him.

"You could've told me something else, but instead you told me something that you wanted to tell me."

"That's true." He said. They both laughed. Michael woke up. To his surprise, he wasn't in his bed. Instead he was lying on the floor on his stomach. It was just a dream. He looked at the time on his watch. It was only 10:00 PM.

"_That's a first. I end up so tired I don't even make it to my bed."_ He thought. He heard someone behind him.

"Are you alright Michael? What are you doing on the floor?" Kurt asked, standing behind him. Michael got on his feet and turned around.

"Ah… I don't know. I thought I made it to my bed. I guess-"

"You didn't?"

"Yeah... what are you doing up anyway?" Michael asked him, looking at the time again. This time he looked at his bedroom clock, then back at Kurt.

"I was just going to bed. We just finished watching movies."

"Oh yeah; who was it with?" Michael asked, wondering if Adma watched them with them also.

"I'll just say the Fellas. That's all you need to know."

"Okay then so just you, Andrew, Mark and Peter then."

"Yeah..." Kurt replied, looking suspicious like he wasn't telling the whole truth. That gave Michael reason to ask, "Was there anyone else?"

"Alright, Adma stayed up too. She just didn't want me to say anything."

"_Why not then?_" He began to wonder. He didn't bother asking though.

"Alright then Michael, good night..." Kurt said, heading off to his bedroom. He got to the door, turned back and said, "... and try to make to your bed before you go sleep this time. Just be happy Adma didn't catch you. That would've been embarrassing." Kurt laughed. He closed the door behind him. Michael went to bed and slept soundly for the first time in ages, though he didn't realise that something in the back of his head was going to bother him.

**Chapter 6**

**Good Times**

The next few days were quite fun. Michael and his friend's were just relaxing and playing games while the ship continued its journey through space. In the meantime, Michael was enjoying himself in what he called his '_heaven'_ and things were getting better. He got up out of bed, got his light grey and quite fluffy dressing gown on over his dark blue flannelette pyjamas and put his grey slippers over his bare feet. He then strolled out of his bedroom to the elevator at the end of the hallway, pressed the button for the second floor and waited patiently for the elevator. About two seconds later the elevator doors opened and he entered not before hearing footsteps coming closer and closer behind him. He turned around and noticed it was Caitie wearing a black 'Nirvana' dressing gown and dark green slippers. She hurried to catch the elevator and Michael was nice enough also to hold the door open so she could get in.

"Good morning Caitie. Did you have a nice sleep?" Michael asked.

"It was okay. What about you?"

Michael's mind went back to last night where he woke up on the floor after the dream he had.

"Umm, not bad," he finally replied. The doors closed and then opened about two seconds later on the second floor. To both Michael and Caitie's surprise Kurt was at the table eating a piece of wholemeal toast with butter and Vegemite on it.

"Good morning Kurt. How long have you been up for?"

"Since about 7:30, did you make it to your bed last night?"

Michael gave him a nasty look.

"What are you talking about?" Caitie asked.

"Nothing," Kurt replied trying not to laugh. But Michael told her anyway.

"What he's talking about is he saw me pretty much passed out on the floor just outside my bedroom." He said in confidence. Caitie laughed a bit.

"Really, I saw you too. What happened?"

"I don't know. It was just weird, that's all. I'd feel better if this conversation was just dropped."

Buhn entered the room.

"Master, could I see you for a moment on the bridge?"

"Sure." Michael replied kindly, leaving Kurt and Caitie and heading to meet Buhn at the elevator.

"_Saved by Buhn Hido... that's interesting." _He thought. He went with Buhn up to the bridge.

"What's going on?" Michael asked Buhn, very anxious and eager to know what this was about while the elevator moved. Buhn didn't say anything. Michael asked again. Still nothing, not even a smile came from his face. Buhn was like some sort of statue or one of those guards at the queen's palace in London back on Earth. He just stood there facing the doors until they were about to open when he said "Close your eyes." Michael did as he was asked and closed his eyes and all he could do was hear whispering around him. He felt Buhn leading him in a certain direction.

"No peeking." Buhn said.

"Okay then." Michael replied; keeping his eyes closed as tightly as he could. He thought that a blindfold would work much better.

"Open them now." Buhn finally said. When Michael opened his eyes he saw Sam and about seven Shadow soldiers standing in front of him with Buhn and Sam holding what looked to be some sort of hooded cloak. It was plain black and as soon as Michael's eyes lied upon it, he loved it.

"Here you go master. Now you're complete," Sam said. Michael was speechless, but after a few seconds he finally said, "Thank you very much," and tried it on over his dressing gown.

"No worries master." Both Buhn and Sam said, happy that Michael loved it. It fitted perfectly even though it was over his dressing gown and Michael knew at that very moment he was indeed as he imagined… The Evil One! Not long after, he went and showed all of his friends. It was the best timing. Most of them were in the lounge room floor watching television. Michael walked in front of the quite large, black television where the seven of them cracked, telling him to move. It wasn't until after the show had finished that he could freely gloat about his new cloak.

"That's wicked dude. Now all you need is spiky teeth and then you'll be the 'Oh yeah geez Fellas vampire." Kurt joked. Michael gave a disapproving look, though he did laugh with everyone at it.

"Yeah, then he can suck your blood." Madeleine said to Kurt.

"You're in Michael." Andrew whispered in Michael's ear. He ignored it. The only downside to this great moment was that Adma wasn't there which made him feel a bit down. He was happy his brother wasn't there either.

In the afternoon, Michael went up to the outdoor and backyard floor to see what in the world Sam meant by "you can ride your motorbikes in a bush and drive anywhere". He thought that was impossible until he found out that those very words were as true as the truth itself. The doors opened and revealed a sight like none ever seen before. There was an artificial sky that was as blue as the sea on the edge of a nice beach with no clouds in sight. The whole ground went for miles but wasn't completely flat, and there was a wide asphalt road leading into the unknown distance. To the right was a wooden fence painted cream going down to the edge of the huge green forest or bush; it was hard to tell what it was, that was about half a kilometre away from the entrance. In the middle of all this was a giant grey building that looked to be both a garage and a shed.

"Amazing, don't you think?" Sam said; coming up behind him He got a little scared to death. He turned around.

"Yeah, I can't believe you did this but may I ask what this is?"

"Well we knew what activities you're interested in, so we did this. You see that road that goes out to pretty much nowhere... that is a road that can take you anywhere in the entire universe, but you can only go to places you know and have been to. Now, the bush is where you can go motorbike riding. The fence... you can try this one yourself. Walk up to it."

"That's all?" Michael asked, confused.

"Yeah, go on."

Michael walked up to the fence and as soon as he got only centimetres from it, a gate appeared out of nowhere which made Michael jump.

"Wow. That's amazing. But what's inside?"

"Look for yourself."

Michael opened the gate that just revealed a flat terrain of nothing but grass. Michael was disappointed.

"True to say Sam, that's not that good. I was expecting something better, like a footy field or something."

"Close the gate and then open it again." Sam replied.

_"What's that supposed to do?" _Michael wondered as he closed the gate and opened it once more. This time it revealed a normal sized Australian AFL football field inside a sort of stadium pretty much like the MCG. Michael and Sam stood at an entrance at the top. This time Michael was very impressed.

"Now that's better. But why did it wait until I thought of it before it changed?" He asked

"Because it's impossible… Oh wait. Try this. Think of something else."

Michael thought of a soccer field. Not one inside a stadium, just one on an open field. Just as he did, he saw the most magnificent thing. He and Sam watched as the football field broke apart into small pieces and rearranged itself into a soccer field.

"That's awesome as. Has anyone else seen this?"

"A few have including Adma, John, and Andrew. Now last but not least the garage..."

They walked out, closed the fence behind them and walked over to the garage. It was steel and had an entrance double door. There were small windows just under the top of it that were too fogged up to see through.

"What's in here?"

"Have a look. You don't need to keep asking when you're aloud anywhere."

"Okay then." Michael replied as he opened the door. The lights in the room automatically turned on when he entered. Michael noticed it was a store room with both car and motorbike parts and tools. It was quite narrow but had enough space to walk around in it. There were also drawers with all sorts of tools in them on the left side of the room below benches with more tools like grinders and other mechanical tools on them. On the right though were long glass windows on top of a metre high metal wall. A glass door led into a second room. Michael curiously walked over to the glass door, opened it and walked into the next room. Once he did, the room automatically lit up to reveal a mechanics area where they could fix and make vehicle and motorbike parts. There were twelve different vehicles including his brother's favourite car the Mini Cooper SS and his own favourite car the Corvette Z06, but only five different motorbikes.

"I…can't… believe it… is… this real?" Michael stuttered.

"Yes, just as you want it." Sam replied kindly.

_"That's for sure."_ Michael thought. "Sam this is awesome. But why have you chosen or well found me and brought me with you on your ship and what not?" Michael asked, hoping to get a better answer this time.

"That answer will come. For now just enjoy yourself."

But Michael couldn't stop wondering how they knew him in the first place, let alone why they'd want him for whatever reason they did all this for.

That night was like any other. He sat at the dining room table and had dinner with his friends but didn't stay as long as he usually did.

"Michael, where are you going?" Peter asked. Michael got out of his seat and went to leave. Everyone went quiet. Michael just left without a word out of him. He didn't know why he was feeling this way. He walked to the elevator door. Once he was inside he pressed the button for the outdoor room. That was all his friend's saw of him that night. When he got to his destination the doors opened and his face shone in the moonlight as he walked out and sat on the grass by himself. There were a few stars out, though it was cloudy.

_"_What's wrong Michael? You should be happy. Adma's here, all your friends, heaven. What am I missing?" He asked himself. He was going crazy over something unknown that even he couldn't explain. Then he realised. It was who she was sitting next at the table and how well they were getting along with each other that bothered him.

"_I wish so much that I had that with her. Oh geez, pull yourself together. You just need to be patient and the time will come when you will have that with her."_

"Have a rough day?" Madeleine asked him, coming up and sitting next to him on the soft cold grass. "What's the matter?"

"Oh it's nothing, just that… I love her…. I…. well yeah, love her."

"Who, Adma?" she asked.

"…Yeah."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well I hardly know her and I don't know what she thinks of me really. I mean what if she only came because Andrew or Caitie did."

"Michael, don't let fears get to you. Just at least try talking to her. Get to know her but not just you and her or else she may get suspicious and take it the wrong way."

"Okay, thanks Madeleine."

"Happy to help." she replied nicely. Then she gave him a hug and went to the elevator. "Are you coming then?"

"Yeah," Michael replied. He got up and met Madeleine at the elevator and went to the living room floor to catch up with everyone else. When they got there, they came to a room that was quite big and rectangle. At one end it had a wall unit with speakers on both sides of a forty inch black, flat screen plasma television. Opposite that going right along the back wall were two more small speakers. There was one at each top corner. Along the left side just before the entrance to the room was a big soft grey couch that could fit twelve or more people on it and in the middle of the room was a wooden, long coffee table.

"Hey Michael, glad you could join us. Where'd you go anyway?" Peter asked, very happy to see him.

"I just went to the bedroom to get something, that's all."

"What about you Madeleine?" Andrew asked.

"What about me?" Madeleine asked him, sounding innocent of her whereabouts.

"Where'd you go?" Andrew asked her.

"Oh I… umm went… to ah… put some makeup on. Then I caught Michael on the way here."

"Alright everyone's here so let's choose a movie please." Adma said.

"Alright then Adma, what's it going to be, Transformers or Madagascar?" Andrew suggested.

The majority of the group said 'Transformers'. So Andrew put it on using the small black remote and pressed play when he was on Transformers. Everyone sat down and watched it. Michael interestingly was watching Adma more than the movie which he couldn't believe and didn't see as a good thing. He hoped that she had not noticed. That would have made things worse. He just couldn't stop glaring over at her every once in a while. He kept telling himself not to do it, but had trouble. They watched that movie until it finished then put on Madagascar anyway that finished quite late. After that had finished, half of them ended up falling asleep on the couch and those that were still awake took themselves off to bed. Michael noticed that Adma had fallen asleep but decided not to disturb, taking himself off to bed. He was still troubled. Obsession was taking him so badly and he didn't know what to do. Only if he could still get counselling from Steve; it would make him feel better. It was worse believing that he would feel better getting told how to feel. He never thought of talking to Madeleine at first, but then thought it'd be best to talk to her when he was really feeling bad. Michael liked her as much as he liked Adma, but didn't feel that he loved her though, unlike Adma.

**Chapter 7**

**It's All Fun and Games**

The days went by and Michael and his friends went around playing video games, exercising, playing sports and having the time of their lives. Even Michael had mostly forgotten of his obsession and enjoyed the days on the ship. Everyone was sitting on the couch through an awkward silence when one of them broke the silence with a great idea.

"Hey, why don't we have a soccer game? Six on six... even teams. What do you say?" Adma suggested to them. It sounded like a good idea. Michael was the first person to say, "Yeah, that's a really good idea. I am in."

"He wishes he's in." Andrew whispered to Kurt who laughed with him.

"Good then, who else?" Adma asked. Eventually everyone else agreed and they all went up the outdoor and backyard floor to play a nice friendly game of soccer. When they got to the backyard floor, they went over to the fence that turned into a massive gate for them to all fit through at once and led into a soccer oval in the middle of a circle of seats.

"Well this is good. Alright, now to pick captains." Adma said, thinking of who should be captains.

"This is where we come in handy guys and girls." said Sam, who was walking up behind Buhn who had also turned up.

"Okay now Adma, you can be captain for one team and…" Sam began. He thought very hard and then eventually after about half a minute and finally said, "Michael."

"_Oh no, we're against each other. Oh well."_ Michael thought, feeling a little let down. He wasn't going to have a chance to see if fate would make them on the same team. He forgot about his troubles and told himself to concentrate on the game. It was what he was supposed to do.

"Okay I'll pick first… umm Caitie." Adma began.

"Your turn Michael." said Buhn. Michael thought for a moment, and then said, "Barry." picking his best friend he knew the longest first.

"Knew that much." Andrew whispered again to Kurt.

Adma picked next. "Alright, let's see...Andrew."

Michael picked after that. "Okay then...Tony." choosing his other best friend he had known for the second longest. This choosing continued until every one of them was on a team. On Michael's team were John, Tony, Madeleine, Barry, and Becky. On Adma's team were Caitie, Andrew, Peter, Mark and Kurt.

"Okay, now that that's done, heads or tails?"

"I'll go tails." Adma answered, almost immediately. Buhn flipped the coin. It flipped freely through the air and landed in the palm of his left hand. He closed it up and opened it to reveal the side. It was tails.

"Do you want to kick off first?" He asked Adma.

"Yeah, we'll kick off."

She smiled at Michael before she walked over to middle of the field to inform the team and to start the kick off. Michael became a little smitten but told himself to concentrate on the game.

"Which way do you want to go?" Buhn asked Michael.

"That way," he answered, pointing towards the left side of the soccer field. All the people playing got to their positions on the field. Adma and Andrew were in the centre, ready to start the game. There was also a commentators box at the top of a two story building on the far right side of the field with two Shadow Soldiers commentating on the game that was about to begin.

"It's a cloudy day but still good enough for an amazing game of soccer." One of them began.

"You can say that again. Alright the game is about to get underway once the whistle is blown." The other replied as they waited for Buhn to blow the whistle to begin the game.

"The referee's blown the whistle and the game is underway. Adma passes it to Andrew who's gotten passed… Ooh Michael takes the ball from Andrew, heads down the line but gets stopped by Caitie. She kicks it way down the line and out of bounds. That's a throw in to the Michael's team which looks like it's going to be taken by John. He throws the ball back in that's intercepted by Adma, who passes it to Mark who kicks it for a magnificent goal. The scores are now 1-0."

A goal was scored by Mark against Michael's team's goal keeper Tony.

"Keep your heads up guys! It's only one goal!" Michael yelled to keep his teams hopes up and not let the first goal get to them.

"Okay, the scores are now 1-0. Its Michael's teams turn to kick off. There they go. Michael passes it to his brother John, passes it down the line that's intercepted by Adma again who passes it to Kurt, gets around Barry, passes it to Mark and kicks for a goal; oh but it gets stopped this time by Tony. He kicks it back out to Madeleine, then to Becky; oh, but nice move made by Adma." The commentators began again.

"Yeah she's a natural." Said the other commentator as the game continued on. "Madeleine gets it. She shoots and… GOAL! The scores are now 1-1; one all."

Madeleine scored a magnificent goal against Adma's team's goal keeper Peter. The first half went on for another twenty minutes and by half time the scores were 4-3 with Adma's team just in front by one goal. It was still anyone's game.

"Okay we have one more half to go team. We get to kick off first so Barry, you pass it to me, I'll pass it to Tony who will pass it between you and him. Then one of you goes for the goal. Then we'll go from there." Michael said. He hoped this plan of his would work, which by his rules made it more likely for it to go wrong. The other team were doing the same at half time. Adma was working out her plan for her team to win.

"We're one goal ahead. Let's keep it that way. Alright, the plan is to get the ball and pass it to me, Andrew or Kurt. We head down; pass it between each other until we are close enough to get a goal. Then we go from there. Got it?" She said. Everyone on her team answered in confidence. Both teams then got to their positions on the field to begin the second half.

"The second half is about to begin. This is tense. You can see everyone here is not sure who's going to win this." One of the commentators began again after their break.

"You're right about that. This could end either way, but I know it will end with a great game nonetheless. The whistle's been blown and Michael has passed it to Tony, to Barry, to Becky, oh but it's been intercepted by Mark and he has passed it to Adma, to Kurt who gets around Becky. He shoots but misses." said the other.

"Kick out by Madeleine. It's interesting that Michael has made her their new goal keeper for the new half. A very hard and strong kick; sending the ball straight to Tony who passes across to Michael at the centre field. He heads down the field, passes to John and John gets around Adma, passes back to his brother who shoots and… it's in! The scores are now 4-4."

For the next several minutes the scores did not change and things were very tense.

"This is very interesting. With only ten minutes on the clock, this last shot could decide the winner of this game."

"Too right my friend. I've never seen a game this close. The whistle's been blown and Adma passes down the line to Caitie, to Kurt, oh but John intercepts it for Michael's team and kicks it into the air straight back to Madeleine."

"I don't know what plan they've come up with but it may be good enough to stop Adma's team. This surprising move may cost them the match if they're not careful. Madeleine's kicks it past the halfway line back to John, to Michael who gets around Mark and heads down the line. There's five minutes remaining. Michael will have to make his move if he wants to have a chance. He goes and passes back to Barry behind him but, wow, Adma's come in and taken the ball from them. She passes it across to Caitie. She kicks it for a goal but it gets stopped by Madeleine. It's back to the middle of the field, intercepted by John who heads down the line and gets around Adma, Kurt and Caitie! This could be it."

"Yeah, John may have this in the bag. It's now only him and the goal keeper Peter. He shoots and… GOAL!" they said as John got the last goal just as the siren went for the end of the game and for Michael's team to win 5-4. The final whistle was blown and that was it.

"What a finish! John comes in for the last shot for a goal and wins it for his brother and the team. That's the best thing we've seen in years." The commentator finished. Everyone on each team shook hands with each other and said, "Good game." as they went inside for a big rest, and a well-earned lunch. The group all took the elevator to the dining room floor. The first sight was a considerable one. There were bowls of two minute noodles, salad rolls and sandwiches, not to mention toasted sandwiches as well. This added to the great and fun day. Everyone sat at the table and enjoyed the delicacies. Michael ate a few salad sandwiches; noticing they were full of cold meat slices, lettuce, cheese and tomato. While they all ate, they talked about the excellent game and how well everyone played.

After lunch, Michael and Andrew went up to the garage to go for a ride on their dirt motorbikes. They got to the garage where their small pit-pro motor bikes were waiting to be taken out into the bush.

"You ready for me to show you the greatest motor bike track ever?" Michael asked Andrew, putting his red and black gloves on his quite pale hands. He changed his brown with white striped runners with his dark brown, steel capped boots that were in the wardrobe in his bedroom. He also put his M2R helmet with his MICHAEL goggles already on it over his head. They both matched the colour of his gloves and bike.

"I guess so. Where about is it anyway?" Andrew asked him.

"Ah, I'm not too sure." Michael replied. He knew where this awesome dirt track was precisely, he just could not explain it easily.

"What do you mean you're not sure? Are you saying you're going to just take me to some random place you think is going to be the greatest motor bike track ever?" Andrew replied, seeming confused while he put on his black steel capped boots, green gloves and goggles over his helmet and walked over to his KTM 150 cc motorbike. It was quite big and long and was the same colours as the rest of his green and black gear. He sat on the seat, put his right foot on the kicker and started his up.

"No, no, no. That is not what I'm saying. I'm saying I know where it is, but I don't know exactly where it is."

"Oh… What?"

"Don't worry Andrew. Let's just go. Keep up with me and you'll be fine." Michael said as he sat on his Lei branded 140 cc pit pro started it up also. They sat there for a little longer as they allowed their motorbikes to warm up. It would have been stupid taking off without doing so; a major pain in the butt too. Michael's motorbike was all black except for the middle part on the handle bars, rims and suspension which was red. It was a little bit smaller than Andrews but still went as good as his. Michael was the first to take off out of the shed. He got to the entrance of the giant, quite dense looking bush and waited for Andrew who stopped beside him seconds later. I nodded to him and he nodded back. The motorbikes roared very loudly so there was no use talking to each other without having to yell. I rode into the bush down a small track and Andrew followed closely behind. His bike was a better design than Michael's and would be easily able to keep up. The bush was magnificent. It reminded Michael of when he and John went riding in the bush just across the road from where they lived. The trees went as high as the sky, the cold air brushed through both him and Andrew as they flew through the bush along a sandy dirt track that was so familiar to Michael that he knew exactly where he was going off by heart. He went left, right, up a hill, down the other side and through many small puddles. He was enjoying this so much. Andrew followed close behind, avoiding being splashed by the puddles Michael went through. A fair while later they came to another small hill that went up and turned at the side. There was also another track to the right, leading off in another direction.

"You want to go first?" Michael asked Andrew. The hill straight ahead of them had a fairly deep crack up the middle of it like an earthquake made it. It looked dangerous.

"The way to get up it is to go up either side... never through the middle." Michael warned him cautiously. He added, "I never go up that way. I would never make it. Andrew looked back at Michael and in his confidence, took off up it. He slowed down a bit and had to hold down the throttle more to get up it. Finally he made it up. Michael then went up the other track that was a detour and a much safer way up to the 'Quarry' where he was taking Andrew to. Once Michael had disappeared; only able to be heard by the sound of his bike through the trees, Andrew continued along the track before coming to an open area, surrounded by quite large sand hills in the middle of a circle of trees. Andrew heard Michael's motorbike slow down nearby. He rode up one of the smaller hills and saw Michael enter from another track that headed out of The Quarry on the other side from where he came up from. He rode down and stopped just in front of Michael.

"I can see why it's called the 'Quarry'?" Andrew said. Michael was happy about that. Just like he was unable to explain the location of the 'Quarry', explaining the reason for its name was also a difficulty. Michael didn't even know. It was quite cloudy which meant the sun wasn't blazing too hot on such a fine day.

"John, our friends and I used to come here all the time. It was like the only good place to come to in Boolarra... well within riding distance." Michael laughed. He then rode off over a hill and down the other side and out of Andrew's sight. Only the motorbike could be heard. Andrew followed not long after. He found his own way around the place quite easily and realised it was as large as he first predicted. They rode around for about half an hour before getting bored and decided to head back home to the garage. When they got back, they found John working on his Mini.

"Hey bro, what are you doing?" Michael asked. John was lying on the ground under the car fixing something. He pulled himself out from under it, got up and wiped his black hands on a white ruddy cloth.

"I just went for a drive and was fixing something." He replied. "By the way what time is it? Oh and Andrew, Adma's been looking for you too."

"Oh. Okay then. It must be urgent. I'll see ya later then Michael."

"Yeah… See ya." Michael replied in a small sigh. "I'd better get going. See you later bro."

Michael went to catch up with Andrew who had unfortunately disappeared by the time he had left the garage. I returned to the elevator and headed down to the bedrooms floor. He felt like just playing His PSP while listening to music on his bed. Michael was still surprised that everything in his room back on Earth was set up and present on the ship in his own room.

"What time is it?!" John yelled. But there was no answer. "_Oh that's real great. I don't know what time it is and dinner might be ready or something and I won't even know. I'd might as well just finish up and head down anyway. It looks late enough." _He thought to himself, just before he noticed a clock hanging on the wall in the next room. It was 4:30 PM. While Michael was in the elevator, he thought deeply.

"_Why can't I stop thinking about it? It doesn't matter that she wanted to see Andrew about something." _

He got out of the elevator and went straight into his room, closing the white painted door behind him. He wanted some privacy. He lied on his bed and pulled out the PSP out of the bottom drawer of his cupboard right next to his bedside, before then grabbing his MP3 played and ear plugs out of the second, out of four drawers to listen to that at the same time. He played a couple of his games that he had on PSP, having one of his ear plugs connected to that in one ear and another that was connected to his MP3 player in the other ear. It was the smartest thing he had come up with. A split second later he could see Andrew catching up with Adma.

"John said you were looking for me and wanted to tell me something." Andrew said.

"Yes."

"Well?"

"Well what?" She replied.

"Well what did you want to see me for?" Andrew asked her. She looked away from him.

"Has Michael said anything about me?"

"Amazingly he hasn't. We went out on our motorbikes into the bush and he took me to the 'Quarry'. We ended up riding around there for a while. He didn't mention you at all which was a first. Is that it?"

"Yeah, good." she replied.

"What's good?" Andrew asked Adma, sounding more curious.

"That he's not talking about me and going on about that 'fate' stuff. That's what annoyed me the most"

"Yeah, true to say it was getting a bit annoying for us too."

They both laughed.

Michael awoke in a fright. His PSP game was still going and the music was still playing. He couldn't understand how he fell asleep. Was he really that tired... and what of the dream? None of it made any sense.

"Oh, it was just a dream; just a god damn dream." He quietly said to himself. He heard someone walk up to his doorway. The door opened and Andrew noticed Michael lying on his bed. He walked up next to the bed.

"Hey, are you alright Michael?" He asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because you're lying in bed and it's only ten past five in the afternoon."

Michael looked at the time. Andrew was one minute off. It was 5:11 PM.

"What did you say the time was?"

"I said it is ten past five. Didn't you hear me the first time?" he asked.

"No." replied Michael in a lie.

"So how come you're in here then, with the door closed? Is it because of the whole thing about Adma asking to see me?"

"No. I was just tired after…riding. I just was playing my PSP. But funny you asked about it being about that. I had a weird dream."

"Really, what happened? Was it the one where she kissed you again?"

"No I… why in the world would I tell you something that I've already told you?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you could have had a similar dream where she kissed who in some sort of setting again? Anyway, continue."

Michael told Andrew about the dream and Andrew was left completely surprised. Michael asked him what the matter was and found the impossible.

"Everything you said is true. Everything I said, she said to me... That's a major coincidence." He said. What? The dream was real? He had proved his Psychicism and all Andrew can call it is coincidence? Michael screwed up his face at Andrew's comment and begged him not to tell Adma about the dream he had. They then both left Michael's room and met up with Kurt and Peter who were playing a Marvel game on one of the computers in the biggest video game room ever!

The Video Games and Entertainment floor was really giant. There were a lot of massive, flat 152 inch television screens in each of the five different rooms that had different signs hanging over the doors; from Xbox to Nintendo, all between a narrow red hallway; going right through the middle with red carpet.

"Hey guys. I can see you're having fun!" Michael yelled over the loud noise of the video game.

"Yeah Fellas, this is awesome as!" Kurt replied, just able to hear Michael and Andrew even turn up.

"Take that you Shadow Mongers… Yeah that's right, fall for the trap I set!" Peter yelled at the game, really enjoying it.

"So you're really enjoying all this?"

"You bet. I've never been happier… Oh damn you! Destroy him Peter! His on the left… THE LEFT, THE RIGHT NOW! GET HIM!" Kurt yelled.

"I AM. I AM OKAY!" Peter yelled back.

Michael walked out and left his friends to their fun and went to see what someone else was up to. Andrew followed.

That night at dinner, everyone had settled in nicely to the accommodation on the ship and its course to its destination; Firaciend was excellent.

"Excuse me everyone. May I have your attention for just a quick second?" Buhn began. The room went silent before he continued. "I see you have all settled in nicely, and to celebrate such an excellent turn out there is going to be a dance and party tomorrow night."

Everyone in the room started to mutter amongst each other.

"It will be on the Outdoor and Backyard floor. It will start at 6:30 and finish whenever really. I would like to know if there is anyone here who objects to it."

No one said anything. Silence came over the room once more for a few seconds which Buhn saw as a good thing and a sign that no one disagreed with it.

"Good. I can't wait to see you dressed wonderfully tomorrow night."

Those were his last words and he left the room. When Buhn had finished, excitement covered the room. Everyone mentioned there different ideas and clothing options for the next night. Even later that night, excitement about the dance and getting dressed up all nice didn't cease, especially by Michael who couldn't wait to see his love looking more beautiful than he'd ever seen her.

**Chapter 8**

**A Night to Remember**

The next morning Michael got up nice and early at 6:30 AM and went down to the Lounge room floor to watch a show on DVD.

"Michael. Where are you headed so early?" John asked, catching him in the corridor.

"I'm just going down to watch television. I can't get back to sleep anyway." Michael replied, hoping that would shut his nosy brother up and not be asked any more questions.

"Okay then. I'm going back to bed." John replied as he closed his bedroom door and went back off to bed. Michael walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor. When he got to the living room floor he put Season 4 of the show 'How I Met Your Mother' on DVD. He opened the disk platform of the DVD player, got the third disk out of the DVD case and put it in, pressing the button to close it. He lied comfortably on the couch while he watched it. He loved 'How I Met Your Mother' and thought it was the best comedy show ever after 'Scrubs'. He watched all the ten episodes on the disk before having breakfast and meeting up with Kurt and Peter at 9:30.

"Hey Fellas, what do you guys have planned today?" He asked them both while he was eating a piece of raisin toast with butter on it.

"Not sure. I heard Andrew went out to buy something and won't be back until later. We could do the same. Are you up for it?" Peter asked the others.

"Maybe; it would be a good day out. Is it just going to be us three or is Mark coming as well?" Kurt asked, sounding inviting. Mark walked into the room.

"Speak of the devil. Hey Mark, do you want to come with us three?" Michael asked before Kurt got the chance.

"Okay then. What about Andrew?" Mark asked.

"He's already gone out. We may see him though, but from what we know, he ditched us." Michael said.

"He always ditches us. He's probably with Adma doing-"

"Doing what?" Michael asked, starting to worry a bit from where Peter was going with this. Peter's mind went blank. He noticed the worry in Michael's eyes and realised the mistake he made in what he was going to say. He chose his next words very carefully.

"Or maybe he's gone to some… place to drink." Peter laughed. Michael got up and walked out.

"Where're you going?" Kurt asked.

"I'm going out."

That was Michael's last word before disappearing from inside of the ship. He went to the garage, got into his Corvette, and drove off into the distance. The Fellas were left, puzzled of where Michael had gone. They only wondered for a couple of seconds before going to their own business; the current one being having breakfast.

"I wonder where Michael went." Mark said.

"He's probably doing something in his bedroom. Andrew made me promise not to tell anyone, especially not Michael that Andrews gone out with Adma-"

"Hey, Michael's gone out. He didn't say anything." John said, walking in and catching their conversation. Kurt pulled out his mobile phone and started texting someone.

"Who are you texting Kurt?" Peter asked him.

"Andrew; I'm giving him a heads up about Michael supposedly heading his way."

"Ok then." Mark said. He didn't care much for what Kurt was doing. Just then Madeleine walked in. John ignored her the whole time she was there. They didn't get along that well.

"Hey guys. I heard Michael went out for some reason."

"Yeah, I think it was to clear his head. He'll need to; now that Peter mentioned that Adma went out to get a dress with Caitie." Kurt began.

"Hey! I almost told him."

"You made him worry. He's gone out looking for them. Andrew told us not to say a word and you go-"

"Fine then, it is my fault Michael isn't here anymore, but that doesn't make me responsible for it." Peter bellowed back, before he just realised his remark just made Kurt right.

"What are you guys talking about? Why would he worry about Adma going dress shopping with Caitie?" Madeleine asked.

"Andrew is also with them." Peter answered.

"Oh. Oh, I see the problem then." She said. They were right. Michael had gone out to clear his head. He kept thinking what if Peter was right. What if he'd lost something he'd been after for a long time? No. No, Andrew wouldn't do such a thing. He knew how much Michael liked her and wouldn't interfere with that... would he?

"Stop thinking about it Michael."he kept telling himself as he continued driving along the road to his destination.

Adma and Caitie were at Target at Mid Valley Shopping Centre in Morwell looking at clothes for them to wear to the dance.

"This one looks nice, don't you think?" Caitie said. She pulled out a long, bright green dress and showed Adma.

"Yeah it really makes me look green." Adma laughed. "I wonder where Andrew's gone off to."

"I'm right here. I just got a message from Kurt. Michael left the ship not that long ago."

"So?" Caitie asked him.

"So he might be headed here to find me."

"I thought you said you told them not to tell him." Adma said.

"I did. They must have told him."

"Call them and find out what happened." Caitie suggested to Andrew. He was already on it.

"Hey Kurt..." He said, having his blue mobile phone on loud speaker so that both Adma and Caitie could hear the conversation.

"Hey Andrew, what is it?" Kurt answered on his dark grey phone back on the ship; also having his on loud speaker too so Peter and Mark could hear. By this time they were heading to the bridge.

"Why did you text me saying that Michael might be on his way here?"

"Well you see, Michael came into the dining room and Peter here mentioned you going out and he mentioned you being out with Adma and Caitie."

"So its Peters fault?" Adma asked intently.

"Yeah, and he could be at Mid Valley by now… wait, I've got an idea. I'll call you back soon."

Kurt hung up.

"What do we do now?" Caitie asked Andrew.

"I guess we wait." Adma said. So that is what they did. About a minute later, Andrew's ringtone went off and he answered it again. Kurt, Peter and Mark had got to the bridge of the ship to Buhn Hido and Sam Numa. Andrew, Caitie and Adma could hear them on the other end.

"Hey guys. What do you want?" Buhn asked the three of them.

"Where's Michael's car?"

"Why? What's happened? Has it been stolen or something?"

"No, we just want to know."

A screen came up at the front of the room covering the window of space, replacing it with a birds-eye view of the red Corvette Z06 out the front of white coloured one story house...

"Don't worry Andrew. His gone home, that's all. You don't have to worry."

Adma gave a huge sigh of relief.

"Thanks Kurt. Keep us posted okay? We'll let you know when we get back."

"Okay then, see ya." Kurt said. Peter and Mark said, "See ya" too.

"See ya." Andrew said. Adma and Caitie did the same as Andrew hung up.

"Ooh this dress is perfect." Caitie said.

"Let's see… Hmm, I don't think so. It's not my colour." Adma said, as she looked at the short blue dress Caitie was holding that looked like a short skirt more than anything.

"Just choose something. I would like to get back before Michael does." Andrew said impatiently. Adma and Caitie chose a nice dress each, and then left Morwell, headed back and were home by lunch.

Michael had gone back to his home in Boolarra to see his family. He drove up a small hill, crossed an intersection and turned and parked in the driveway of the completely white coloured house. Mary came out of the front door as soon as she heard the car turn up.

"Michael! I can't believe it's you." She said, coming up and hugging him.

"I missed you too." Michael laughed happily. They went inside and talked.

"So how is everything?"

"Good. I've got a Corvette which is the most awesome thing ever and my life is finally complete... mostly. It'd be good for you to come. I miss you, dad and Sandy; especially Sandy. At least I have the greatest best friends ever coming with me on this adventure."

"I miss you too and Sandy's been moping around. I knew this day would come."

Sandy was lying on the floor in the lounge room, noticed Michael and immediately ran over to him.

"I can tell. Oh mum… wait, what do you mean by you knew this day would come?" Michael asked.

"I meant about you moving out for the first time and getting your own place."

"Oh. Good point. I haven't really thought of it like that." He said as he laughed. Mary laughed too but didn't know why. Michael picked up Sandy by her furry white underbelly and sat her on his lap. She eventually curled up on and purred silently. Michael just patted her like he always had.

"So, are you with anyone yet?" Mary asked, just trying to make conversation. Michael thought a bit before answering.

"Not really. I still really like Adma and I think things may be coming around. So I may sometime soon."

"That's good to hear. Just don't get your hopes up. In the meantime, I hope it works out for you then. How's John going?"

"Good. It's like he's a part of the 'team' or 'family' really, and is slowly beginning to get along with everyone, which I'm amazed and happy about."

"That's good to know." Mary said. Sandy just lied there, still curled up on Michael's lap. Michael stayed around for a couple more hours and talked. Eventually he began to run out of things to say. He was not the best conversationalist. He left and said goodbye to Mary that afternoon. By the time he had returned to the outdoor room there was no one in sight. The only people around were the Shadow Soldiers and Ninjas organising the room where the dance and party would take place. Everyone was busy getting ready for the dance that night. Michael wasn't seen for all of that afternoon on any of the other floors. Everyone wondered if he was going to even turn up that very night.

"He's probably taking ages getting changed or something."

"That's hard to believe Peter. You know how he rushes everything, I wouldn't be amazed if he's already there and ditched us all." Kurt laughed, joking so much he couldn't help to stop.

"That's true. Well I've got to go get changed. I'll see you guys later." Andrew said, as he headed off to his room to get ready. Madeleine joined their conversation.

"Seriously guys, aren't you worried that he may have gotten into trouble? I'm amazed you lot haven't gone to get ready."

"We're just joking. We really want to know where he is but we guys like to joke around and mock each other. If he was here, he'd know that." Peter confidently answered.

"That's a real nice way." Madeleine muttered under her breath so the others didn't hear her remark. "If you see him, tell him we've all been worrying about him. His been gone for ages. The dance is in two hours for god sake. I'll see you guys then."She added before walking into her own room and closing the door.

Two and a half hours went by and everyone was ready for the dance. The first people to head up were the Fellas who were all dressed in very snazzy suits, pants, and shoes, all formally black with white shirts and black ties. They went inside the ball room and found some dark hooded figure sitting on what looked to be wooden stools over at the large lit up bar where a Shadow Soldier was serving him at. The bar had quite a long sandy coloured bench spanning to the corner wall. On the inside part of it along the back wall was bottle cabinet with all sorts of drinks; from water and soft drink to beer and alcohol that was the same length as the bench. The ball room was lit up beautifully with a dance floor, a stage where a Shadow Ninja DJ played music, round green tables with light blue soft, fluffy chairs on each corner on the outside of the dance floor and a disco ball spinning and changing colours non-stop on the roof in the middle of the room above. The four of them walked over to the bar to see who this stranger was. Andrew tapped the figure twice on the shoulder.

"Hey, who are you?"

The figure turned on his stool, got up and took off his hood.

"Hey. Didn't you even realise it was me? I can't believe it actually worked." Michael said, laughing a bit. He could not believe the look on their faces after the amazement they had from the trick Michael played on them so cunningly. Then Kurt spoke and didn't sound too impressed.

"Michael, that was like the lamest thing ever, vampire…"

Michael just looked at him with a friendly smile and ignored what Kurt had called him.

"That's not the only surprise I have either. That's all I'm saying. Now let's all have a drink."

Michael and the Fellas waited for the others to turn up and for the party to really get started. They enjoyed themselves in conversation as they made bets of who would turn up next. Not long after, Caitie and Becky walked in. None of them own that round, choosing either, John Barry or Tony to arrive. Caitie was wearing a maroon coloured dress and matching coloured low heeled shoes. Becky was wearing a white dress also wore low heeled shoes, though they were silver in colour. They walked over and sat at one of the tables in the room. Michael went over to them.

"Hey, you two look very nice tonight." He said, sitting in a chair opposite them with his back to the Fellas still drinking and making bets at the bar.

"Thanks. You look quite handsome in that suit." Caitie kindly replied.

"Can you get us a drink Michael?" Becky asked. Michael didn't hesitate to answer "Yes," and got back out of his chair and went back to the bar to get two glasses of lemonade.

"Hey Cyke, hook in." Kurt said in a mean joke. Michael (aka Cyke; one of Michael's nicknames) hoped he was joking.

"Two lemonades please,"

Michael pretty much had to yell at the bar tender to be heard. He then waited for the bar tender to serve the drinks he ordered. He joined the Fellas conversation in the meantime. Kurt bet that Tony would come next and Peter and Andrew bet Adma. Mark on the other hand bet that it would be Barry again. Michael, secretly bet that it would be John. About half a minute later the bar tender returned saying "here you go," and handing Michael two medium sized crystal glasses, both with lemonade soft drink in them, fizzing like crazy.

"Who're those for Michael, your T.B.O's?" Kurt said; he was the biggest joker out of the four of them. Before I continue T.B.O means 'The Beautiful One'. They called the girl the person liked that name which Kurt came up with after mocking Michael about T.E.O. They thought it was quite creative.

"Kurt, they're not my T.B.O's. You know who my one and only T.B.O is."

"Yeah, and you don't have a chance in the world with her. You'd have more of a chance with your other one." Andrew quickly butted in. Michael just walked off and didn't listen. Instead he went back and gave Caitie and Becky their drinks.

"Thanks Michael." They both said, as he handed them the glasses of lemonade. Just then Madeleine came in.

"_I guess they all lost that bet again." _Michael thought, thinking back to that fact none of the Fellas bet her to be the next arrival. Madeleine was wearing a very beautiful shiny blue dress lengthening to her dark silver shoes and almost dragging the dress along the ground. She walked over and sat down next to Becky.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey Madeleine, you look very nice." Michael complimented.

"Thanks. And you look very handsome yourself." Madeleine complimented back, returning the favour. "So this is the disco room they mentioned."

"Yeah, what do you think of it?" Buhn said, walking up and joining them. Madeleine continued.

"It's done up really great. All of this is. It's like heaven."

"Glad you like it." Buhn replied. He walked off to go get a drink. At this point the only thing Michael was thinking about was where Adma; his one love, was. Then it came. The doors opened and he saw her; the most beautiful girl ever. She was wearing the most beautiful small gold earrings in her ears. Her gorgeous blonde hair flickered in the moonlight outside and went dark as soon as it was shadowed by the roof of the disco room. Her dress was bright yellow and she was wearing gold low heeled shoes. Michael's heart started racing as he glanced at her. He felt like he was in a dream that he wanted to never end. He couldn't believe anything and everything that was going through his mind. She walked in and passed Michael, Madeleine, Becky and Caitie and went over to the bar without a glance at any of them. Michael's heart slowed down.

"That was strange. I'll go see what that was all about." Caitie said. She got up and left the group. Michael started to have a bad feeling, beginning to wonder if it was because of him that was the reason why she didn't talk to any of them. He just watched Caitie talking to her and wondered further.

"What do you think they're saying?" Becky asked. It was the exact thing Michael was wondering. Besides the loud, various genre music playing, there was a silence that came over the table until Caitie returned.

"Why did she just walk past without talking to us?" Madeleine asked her as soon as Caitie sat back down.

"What? Oh yeah... Umm, well... Oh damn. I forgot to ask."

"What? Then what were you two talking about then?" Michael asked this time.

"Girl stuff, I'd like to talk Madeleine and Becky Michael, so can you go for a sec?" She asked politely. Michael agreed without any argument and went back to the bar for a glass of Coke Cola for himself. Adma got her glass of orange Sunkist soft drink and went over to the table to join Caitie and the other two girls.

"Hey Michael, what are you doing?" Mark asked him.

"Nothing much, have you seen John?"

"Are you talking about me?" John said, coming up behind Michael, scaring him half to death from the surprise. He was in a very similar suit to everyone else's.

"Hey bro, I was wondering if you were here."

"Well you got your answer then." John laughed. "Oh, by the way, Sam Numa's looking for you."

"Is he? Alright then, thanks for telling me."

Michael left the bar once again and went over to Sam who he saw walk inside.

"Master, just the person I was looking for. Listen, how would you like to rock this party?"

"Okay. What you got in mind?"

He whispered into Michael's left ear, winked at him, and walked off over to the DJ. A small smile came over Michael's face and he went back to hang with the Fellas. The last two guests; Barry and Tony then entered and joined John at a table. They too were wearing black suits that were similar to the Fellas. Kurt and Andrew had won the next round of bets. Now that everyone had arrived, the bets had finished.

A couple of hours passed. Michael disappeared from the disco room and everyone was enjoying themselves too much to realise.

"This is awesome as. Hey, where's Michael?" Andrew asked, being the first to realise what no one else had.

"Yeah, he was here earlier. That's weird as. The disco was in his honour and he hasn't even stayed for the whole night." Madeleine replied. She was sitting at the bar with the Fellas instead of with Caitie, Adma and Becky. Just then the DJ spoke through the black microphone in his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, are you ready to rock this floor?! We have a very special guest tonight and he's ready to get this party started! Oh yeah, give it up for the one, the only, Resavolar!"

The music got loud as an unfamiliar song began to play and a singer that looked exactly like someone they knew jumped onto the stage in front of the DJ and sang.

"My eyes are open wide, every morning,"

"I'm amazed of the survival I've made,"

"But no matter how hard I try,"

"I never seem to choose the right side"

"In my life, in my life,"

"Days go by and yet things seem to change,"

"Fate comes and goes, but nothing ever goes right,"

"But I still go fighting on,"

"Like there is no tomorrow,"

"In my life, in my life,"

(Chorus)

"Things change for the best, but I still don't see,"

"In my life, I see so much I don't understand,"

"Love, hope and fate to come in one package,"

"What I want, what I need,"

"I just don't want to see you go,"

"In my life, in my life,"

"In my life,"

(Short music break)

"I found myself in a trance, one unable to see,"

"What I was missing,"

"I lost everything, wanting more than I can bear,"

"My life somehow felt better without you,"

"But how wrong I became,"

"Fate comes and goes and yet nothing ever goes right,"

"But I still go fighting on,"

"Time and time again,"

"Things change for the best, but I still don't see,"

"In my life, I see so much I don't understand,"

"Love, hope and fate to come in one package,"

"What I want, what I need,"

"I just don't want to see you go,"

"In my life, in my life,"

"In my life,"

(Music solo)

"Things change for the best, but I still don't see,"

"In my life, I see so much I don't understand,"

"Love, hope and fate to come in one package,"

"What I want, what I need,"

"I just don't want to see you go,"

"Things change for the best, but I still don't see,"

"In my life, I see so much I don't understand,"

"Love, hope and fate to come in one package,"

"What I want, what I need,"

"I just don't want to see you go,"

"In my life, in my life,"

"In my life,"  
"I just want to be free,"

As soon as he finished and the song ended, the crowd cheered and the singer finished with, "Thank you. Thank you very much," and left the stage.

"Who was that?" John asked, sounding really taken away by the person's singing.

"I don't know, but whoever it was, Michael missed him." Madeleine said. She, the Fellas and John regrouped with Becky, Adma and Caitie at their table.

"Hey, do you think that was Michael?" Andrew asked the group.

"No way... Michael's not that good of a singer." John answered repressively.

"Whoever it was, they were good. " Caitie said, almost daydreaming with a big sigh.

Once the Disco had finished, everyone went back to the lower floors and went to bed. Adma and Andrew were the last two to leave. They both walked out to the front of the building. Andrew went to walk ahead before realising Adma wasn't following,

"Are you alright?" Andrew asked. Adma didn't say anything. To Andrews surprise she just ran down the stairs and hugged him. From a fair distance away in the shadowed darkness, Michael watched as his heart slowly broke bit by bit.

**Chapter 9**

**The Truth**

The next day went by slowly and Michael wasn't talking to Andrew. Everyone was asking him what was wrong over and over again, trying to get it out of him. Nothing seemed to work. They were worried about him. None of them had ever seen him this quiet or feeling this depressed. No one could get an answer from him. Every time they tried, he told them that it was nothing worth being concerned about. Just when they thought there was no chance of getting it out of him...

"Why don't we get Buhn or Sam to talk to him? He'd tell them." Mark suggested while they were all having lunch together. Michael had not shown up which gave them the best chance to talk. His idea was the first good idea any of them had thought of since that morning. The group thought over it for a bit before Madeleine broke the silence by saying, "I'll do it. I'll talk to him."

"Are you sure he'll tell you? Not that I don't agree it'll work. I mean, we've all tried and haven't even got a peep out of him." Andrew said, unsure himself.

"He's mad at you Andrew, not me. I'll just get alone with him, and ask him straight out."

"Then will you tell us?" John asked. He just wanted to know what Michael was crying about now. Madeleine went quiet before saying, "Maybe. If he doesn't want me to keep it secret that is."

"Getting Michael to tell you why he's been feeling so down is going on will have to wait. We've got work to do and we're almost at our first stop." Sam interrupted.

"So?" Kurt asked Sam.

"So Kurt, I thought that instead of you lot staying on the ship, you could get out of the ship and get some exercise. It may do Michael some good too. Also you'll get to visit another planet."

This excited the group. They had never been to another planet. No one from Earth ever had.

"But where at though?" Becky asked curiously.

"There's a planet not far from here. We need to go there to get some extra supplies and refuel anyway."

Everyone agreed. They would go on their first adventure at the planet Terrashorm that afternoon. Although, one flaw never crossed their mind. In the meantime Madeleine got her chance she'd been waiting for. After lunch, she and Michael were both watching TV on the lounge room floor. It was quiet, with only sound in the room coming from the TV. Madeleine decided to start a conversation.

"How've you been?"

Michael shrugged his shoulders and stayed quiet.

"_I take that as not good."_ She thought before asking, "What's wrong?"

Michael looked at her with depressed eyes. He looked as though he had not gotten much sleep either. This was a major first. Since their first night aboard the Star Ship Resavolar, Michael had gone to bed early and always looked very refreshed the next morning.

"You wouldn't understand. I just saw something..."

"What?" Madeleine asked, trying not to push Michael to answer. She really wanted to know, to be there for her good friend. Michael went quiet again, afraid to say. She looked him in the eyes.

"Look, I promise this'll just be between you and me." She replied. She was playing every card she could muster.

"Okay then. I saw... the other night at the end of the disco... I saw her hug Andrew." Michael replied quietly.

"Oh. So that's why... wait... what were you doing there so late and how come nobody saw you?"

"It doesn't matter. I guess everyone was right. I never had a chance with her."

Buhn came in.

"Master, can I see you for a second?" He asked. Michael got up and left with him, leaving Madeleine by herself. She didn't decide to follow, fully aware of what Buhn wanted to see him about. Buhn and Michael went into the elevator and back up to the bridge.

"Why did you bring me here for?" Michael asked.

"We're about to reach our first stop and I wanted you to see it for yourself."

The elevator doors opened and Michael's first sight was of the large coloured ball outside the window. There, spun a large sphere shaped planet. The surface was the colours of lime and both bright and dark green where a dense forest and swamp was covering the planet's surface.

"This is Terrashorm. It's a forestry planet." Buhn said, looking at Michael's reaction to the amazing sight. Buhn was not a surprised; clearly showing that he had seen better planets.

"Thanks for showing me this." Michael replied coolly. "It's amazing. Has anyone else seen it?"

"No, but they all knew that we're going there. You're all invited to come if you want."

"Awesome. Yeah that'll be great." Michael said excitedly, even though he, like his friends hadn't thought of the one flaw they had all missed. How were they supposed to survive on another planet without oxygen? Instead, they concentrated more on the excitement of visiting another planet.

That afternoon Michael, the Fellas, the Girls and the other guys all went with Buhn and Sam in the Star Ship Euthana down to Terrashorm and to the city of Terros. The ship entered the planet's atmosphere and all they saw for miles was a bunch jungle forest. The thing that mostly stood out in the whole forest was a giant, thick, brown tree standing in the middle of the city. For some reason Michael got a sort of a raging suspicion about it. He quickly forgot about it in his unsureness. What he didn't know, was that his suspicion would soon be answered. As soon as the ship landed inside a small spaceport, they all got out and saw the most amazing thing. The whole spaceport, large enough for the Star Ship Euthana to fit into had wooden walls with thick brown branches covering them; making the walls really hard to see. It was like the inside of a tree. The only difference between the space port and a tree was that the top was cut open, allowing spaceships to land inside it. The floor was quite dirty and muddy. Bits of bark were lying all over the place. Michael took in his first breath and realised, as did his friends, that the planet was oxygenated. It then hit him. There was oxygen, just like on Earth, because there were trees occupying the planet's surface creating the oxygen.

"Alright, we'll be here for just a few minutes. Once we're done we'll call each of you on your phones or send you a message, okay?"

"I just have one question Buhn. How will you be able to do that when our phones won't work?" Andrew asked. Sam laughed, and Buhn told him to shut up before he explained.

"We modified your mobile phones. Don't worry though, they're exactly the same."

"That makes no sense. You just said you modified them. So how are they the same then?" John asked, all confused. So Buhn explained more clearly.

"You never noticed that there were any differences with your phones right? Well that's what I meant by they are exactly the same. We just 'updated' them. Oh, and one more thing. Watch yourselves. Most life forms here have never seen humans before. Also keep out of trouble. The last thing I want is for one of you to go missing. Lastly and especially; don't leave the city. The outskirt's of the city is dangerous."

"How dangerous is it exactly?" Kurt asked.

"Very dangerous; you won't survive ten minutes out there, so the legend says."

Both Buhn and Sam walked off through the entrance doors of the spaceport. Not long after Michael, and the Fellas went out of the spaceport hanger and found themselves in a busy street with hundreds of life forms or well, 'aliens' going different ways; left and right. The paths were of dirt and trees were in different areas like the original settlers had just built up around where they could and left the forest the way it was. There were market places with aliens yelling to passers by while trying to get potential buyers attention and buy their goods.

"Which way do you want to go?" Michael asked first.

"Maybe we can go this way... or perhaps that way... I don't know." Kurt exclaimed as he was looking from left to right. He had good timing that his eyes followed someone walking by, not taking notice of the five of them.

"I thought there'd be Shadow Ninjas with us." Peter said.

"Yeah, that's strange. What if something happens to us?" Andrew replied.

"Then we probably wouldn't live to see another day." John said. He came up behind them, and almost scared them.

"Don't talk like that bro." Michael said, unhappy of John's remark. He then paused and looked at the roof of a nearby building. He began to have a good feeling and then looked back to the others.

"Come on."

John and the other four followed him around the market place. What they didn't know was that someone was following not far behind.

They had all been walking around for a quarter of an hour before stopping for a temporary rest outside a dark narrow alleyway between two big forest coloured buildings. They had the same structure as building apartments in Melbourne, but looked to be made out of wood, rather than brick.

"This place is so wicked. I've never seen so many different types of people, or well creatures really." Peter said. He was taken away by the different types of creatures around them so much.

"Yeah, it's nothing like what I've ever seen in my entire life." Kurt added.

"So are you-"

Something came out of nowhere, grabbed Michael, and took off with him into the shadows of the alleyway. It all happened so quickly. The others hadn't realised what happened before it was too late. Three flat shadow outlines appeared in front of the five teenagers, moving along the ground before coming up from the ground and transforming together from tiny little black particles, into Shadow Ninjas. The two on each side were normal but the middle one was somewhat different. He was shadow black, though he was wearing a type of dark grey armour and had a dark grey emblem on his left arm, slightly below the shoulder. He looked to be a higher ranking to the other ones.

"What the hell? What just happened? Michael?" Kurt said to the others, all confused. They all just stood there shocked, as if they were turned into statues. The Shadow Ninjas stood there guarding them. Then the middle one spoke to them with only three words.

"Go after them."

The two Shadow Ninjas turned back into flat black shapes along the ground and disappeared into the distance. The only Shadow Ninja left spoke into the small black communicator in his right ear. From the teenager's point of view, it could not be seen.

"This is Commander Billy. General Hido, we have a code red. Repeat we have a code red!"

"What happened? Are they alright?" Buhn asked on the other end. The Fellas and John could just hear what Buhn was saying.

"Something took off with Lord T.E.O. Two Shadow Ninja's have gone after them but have not returned yet." Commander Billy explained.

"What? How'd they get around our guards who were watching them? Never mind that. Find him, and get him to safety. This is on your head." Buhn replied. He was sounding very annoyed. He clearly didn't want this to happen. Nonetheless, it happened.

"Yes sir-"

"What about the others?" Buhn quickly interrupted.

"They're here safe with me. I've called two Shadow Soldiers to come pick them up, and ordered four more Shadow Ninja's to go after the kidnapper." Billy said. This led Buhn Hido to calm down. Precautions were in place and there was immediate action.

"Good. Just get them back to the ship. The worst we need is for another to go missing. Commander Gus is taking care on retrieving the Girls."

"Yes sir."

After all that he then turned to the five teenagers and asked them. "You lot alright?"

"Yeah, we are." They answered, shaking a little.

"Did you see who took Lord T.E.O?" He asked them. They all shook their heads.

"No. We were just walking through the street, and then someone grabbed him and went off with him before we could even notice and act on it." Kurt answered at once. "Who was it, or even more what was it?"

"That's what I want to know." Buhn said, appearing out of nowhere with four Shadow Ninja's; two on each side of him walking just behind him. "Whoever it was, they know us. No one can get passed us that easily."

"But they did though." Said John, "So what does that mean?"

"I don't know. Commander, let me know if, I mean when you hear from any Shadow Ninjas.

"Yes General. Come on men, move out!"

At that, Commander Billy left with the four Shadow Ninjas that had turned up with Buhn.

"You lot come back to the ship with me and stay close. We don't want to lose any more of you."

They headed back to the ship with Buhn, wondering if Michael was alright, let alone if he was still alive. Buhn feared the worst but kept that to himself. He did not want his worries to spread.

Michael didn't know where he was. He looked around, and after being hit that hard. He was not exactly stable and his eye sight was blurry as well. Hus other senses took over. The place smelt dusty and old and it was very quiet. Michael thought he was alone.

"What's going on? Where am I?" He asked in a weak voice.

"I know you Lord T.E.O. You may not know it yet, but all you need to know is that if you stay in the open like that you could be killed."

Michael suddenly looked up at where a stranger's voice had come from. "I need you," they finished.

"Why? I haven't done anything. How... how do you... know me?" Michael asked. He was completely terrified. This was the first and worst time he had been kidnapped. He tried to stay brave but it would not come. The stranger's voice spoke again.

"You ask too many questions. I was wondering when this day would come."

"What day? What are you... talking about?" Michael asked again, trying his best to gather his words. Michael's eye sight returned back to normal in the next few seconds and he got a better look at his surroundings. All around the room was darkened besides the light that was coming through the dirty, square windows; two on the left side of the room and one on the right. They caused the light to cross over each other right in front of him; tied to a wooden chair. Everything was wooden; the roof and walls except for the ground that was of dark sand. The room itself was quite small and empty. He believed that only he and the stranger were there. The stranger walked out of the shadows so that his body was visible but not quite his face. He was wearing a hood covering the top half of his face. His fierce mouth showed and Michael believed that he was about to be killed by this vampire. Michael could then see outlines of other figures at each side of this stranger. He feared this to be the end. He terrified face expressed it all.

"What do you want from me?" Michael asked, almost terrified to complete death. He felt so close to it. This was not funny. He wished for Buhn; or Sam; anyone to come and save him. The stranger stood there, and then he whispered, "They found us." All the figures in the room turned to a fighting position, ready to fight whatever was coming after them. Three Shadow Ninjas appeared and went for the people keeping Michael captive. Michael just watched as the Shadow Ninjas kept getting kicked back and disappearing as they had been defeated by their enemy. Once the fight was over, Michael had begun to worry again. He felt that life was over for him and there was no way of escaping it. He looked at them, wondering what they were going to do with him; now that his last hope had been destroyed.

"How'd you defeat them so easily?" Michael asked; looking very surprised in his continuing fear. He had not seen the Shadow Ninja's defeated, though he knew how difficult shadow itself was to defeat. The stranger turned to face him while the others still stood in the darkness.

"You obviously don't know how amazingly famous the Shadow is. They're taking a big risk having you with them."

Michael gave him a confused look.

"I once heard a legend. The Evil One will return and retake what was once his. You are the one. The one everyone is after. I have saved you."

"Saved me?"

"Yes, I have saved you from being killed. It's not safe to be hanging around by yourself without the Shadow's protection. They don't know what they're dealing with."

He faced his back to Michael and said, "Get ready to leave. It's not safe here anymore." The other people left the room and left the stranger and Michael by themselves. Michael's heart slowed down. This man could tell him everything he wanted to know. Confusion drew over him after hearing about people after him. He didn't even understand why he was, as the man called him, 'the one'?

"We must get out of here Lord T.E.O. I must find out something."

"What?" Michael asked, still wondering like he had been since day one on his leave from Earth.

"I will tell you, but you have to trust me."

"How can I?"

Michael then realised one thing. He was unharmed, unscarred. They hadn't hurt him at all. Michael had no other choice but to trust this stranger. If he could help and was on their side, he had to just go on that evidence. He finally agreed after thinking over it.

"Excellent. My name is Drenacle Threon by the way. I'm a bounty hunter but I am not after you like the others. I am on your side. Someone started rumours about you, saying that if The Evil One comes back to power he will bring forth darkness across the galaxy. The police have been warned. You must stay with me and stay quiet."

He then took off his hood revealing a red demon like face with black war-like markings on parts of it. He also had black hair scary looking red eyes. The thing that stood out most was a scar across the right side of his cheek. This added to his scary look.

"We're moving tonight... midnight." Drenacle finished. He led Michael out of the detaining room now that Michael was now a part of the team. He was acquainted with Drenacle's men and women mercenaries that were helping him on the mission.

Back at the star ship Euthana things were not looking up. Buhn Hido had returned to the control room of the Star Ship Euthana with the Fellas and John. Tony and Barry had made it back by that time, receiving the message and doing as asked. He obtained a communication from Commander Billy.

"General Hido. We've had activity at the south end of the city. We believe Michael is being held there."

"What makes you think that Billy?"

"There was an old house where we lost contact with three Shadow Ninjas, sir." Commander Billy replied.

"Good then. Check it out."

"Yes sir."

Madeleine turned up with Sam Numa to see what the latest update on the situation was. She was beginning to worry a lot and was hoping for good news.

"Have you found him yet?" She asked them. Andrew was standing next to her. The other Girls had joined the rest of the group in the quarters of the Star Ship Euthana.

"We believe we found him but we're not entirely sure." Buhn replied. It was half an hour after midnight when a communication came in from a Commander Billy.

"Sir, we have found the house..."

"And..?" Sam asked.

"And we ah... found nothing sir. Whatever went on here, there's no evidence showing any fight or anything at all. It's like it's been deserted for a while now."

Buhn got frustrated and walked from side to side.

"Keep looking and give me an update. Madeleine, I promise I will personally let you all know if and when we find him."

That was starting to not be assuring at all. But that was the least of their problems. Madeleine and Andrew walked out and went down to the others. When they got there, Kurt stood up from his chair, hoping to hear good news. Both Andrew and Madeleine shook their heads as they entered. That night none of them slept. Even Adma stayed up. Up at the bridge, Buhn frustration was getting to him. He kicked the air in his anger.

"How could this happen? All we had to do was get him from Earth in the Samana Galaxy and take him to Firaciend. It was that simple!"

Sam Numa told him to calm down. He was in more control that Buhn. There was a larger reason for his outrage.

"We have all available men searching for him. He will be found within the hour." Sam said to him, pacing from one side of the control room to the other side. Buhn looked up and hoped that he was right. The next morning matters worsened further. Communication was lost by every scout team that was out looking for Michael. Buhn knew this was no coincidence. He turned the hologram on and watched the local Terrashorm news to see if his hunch was right.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a very serious warning. An anonymous local has given Terros police information that the dangerous organisation known as the Shadow led by General Numa has been found to be in hanger 46 this very moment. Police have eradicated the Shadow's forces around the city and are now taking care of the ship that's landed in the city." The grown skinned male alien reporter began. Michael was in Drenacle's red hover vehicle heading to the new hideout. Half of Drenacle's team had gone by foot while the others accompanied him in the vehicle. Michael was disguised in his black cloak and hid under the hood for the whole journey. They were watching to the same report on the small hologram inside the vehicle. It continued.

"Police are set up outside the hanger ready to breach..."

The picture showed a shot of the police completely covered in dark lime coloured armoured suits breaking into the hanger. They opened fire on the Star ship Euthana as it took off into the air and out of sight.

**Chapter 10**

**The Oracle**

This was not good at all. Michael had no way of getting back to his friends and even worse they now were all wanted fugitives. The vehicle continued on its way to the new hideout as Michael spoke with Drenacle who was sitting next to him in the back. Michael looked out the window enjoying the view of the city and trees surrounding it while he spoke.

"Now what do we do? The Shadow has been forced away and I'm stuck here with a price on my head." Michael said to Drenacle, turning his head Drenacle's way. Drenacle looked back at him.

"What did I tell you My Lord? You have to trust me. I promise you will see them again. Anyway, I know where they're headed."

"Ok then." Michael replied, not enthused. He knew his only choice was to trust this stranger and he kept to his word. The four door, dark red hover vehicle slowed and eventually stopped outside another old looking house. Michael believed it was the hideout. Drenacle confessed the most interesting thing to Michael as they exited the vehicle.

"I have a confession Lord T.E.O. It wasn't mere coincidence how I found you." He began as they walked inside, revealing an open spaced room. It was not much to look at. The walls were dusty and looked as though they would brake by touch. Drenacle continued as they sat down in a room adjacent to the first.

"I've been tracking the Shadow for some time now. I knew they'd come here first. I used to work for the Shadow and once I had heard that you were a wanted man, I knew I had to take care of things my own way and abandon Sam and Buhn."

Michael felt strange. Drenacle was talking like he knew him and was his protector or guardian of sort. Michael just gave an unsure "Okay then." and said no more. Even though this evidence had arisen, he still had only known Drenacle for a short while. He could hear sorts of helicopters flying over the hideout every once in a while.

"Will they find us?" Michael asked. One of Drenacle's men replied before Drenacle could do so himself.

"No they won't. Tomorrow, we make for The Oracle and hopefully some questions will be answered." Drenacle said.

"And what questions are they?"

"The truth of who began something that will end badly." Drenacle replied again, not allowing the woman to do it first. That didn't sound good at all to Michael. He began to feel sorry for asking. All he wanted to do was be back with his best friends, brother, and of course Adma.

On the Star ship Euthana, things had worsened further. The Shadow had lost one person and Adma especially didn't like it one bit, though she kept her worry to herself. Buhn and Sam had personally gone down to see the group and tell them of the attack as the ship returned to the Star Ship Resavolar.

"I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do. We ended up under attack. We had to leave." said Sam informed them. Everyone fell silent and Adma got up and walked out. Andrew went after her but she had disappeared before he could catch up to her, so he turned back to join the others.

"What was that all about?" Buhn asked.

"I'm not sure." Caitie replied.

"It's even worse getting that close to finding him and having this happen." Buhn added. "Damn it."

He stormed out and the door closed behind him as he entered the corridor just outside the quarters. Sam followed him not long after, catching up with him.

"What is wrong with you?" He asked Buhn. "We need to keep our worries from them. What we need is for them to trust us. They can't do that if we begin to doubt our abilities."

"The only thing is that now we don't have a chance. Whatever the hell happened back there is beyond me. Something doesn't make sense. How could anyone have known about us being there, and why were the police after us?" Buhn replied. His anger and frustration was clearly showing.

"Maybe we've missed something… something that's the answer to everything that had just occurred." Sam replied, attempting to calm Buhn's mind. The answer was unclear to them both. They just became more frustrated not knowing what the police was after them for, or what had happened while they were on their mission collecting Michael from Earth. Sam hid his anger more than Buhn had.

The next day came slowly and Michael, Drenacle and his men got in the vehicle and headed to see The Oracle. On the way, Drenacle and Michael talked.

"So what do they call you? Lord T.E.O or General T.E.O or what?"

Michael was happy to answer, adding more information than he needed to.

"Well I have many names. My actual name is Michael but I also get called Matrix boy and Cyke. Master or Lord T.E.O is fine also."

"Well then, I'm pleased to meet you Michael."

"Thanks Drenacle. It's nice to meet you too" Michael replied. "How much further is it to the Oracle anyway?"

"You see that tree." Drenacle said, pointing to the giant tree that stood out in the middle of the city. It was as green as anything and grew hundreds of metres, almost touching the faded lime coloured sky that passed over it. It could be seen from any part of the city.

"_Wow."_ Michael thought to himself as he gazed at its marvellousness. The vehicle finally came to a halt outside the tree that overshadowed them. It made it look like night had already befallen them and the entire city. The wooden double doorway entrance at the top of a small hill led into a room so dark nothing could be seen. That was where Michael and Drenacle journeyed, leaving the men outside the tree guarding the vehicle. As they entered, the entrance doors closed behind them and they were trapped inside. A voice spoke the very words, "Only the chosen one may continue the journey to find the answer they desire."

"What does that mean?" Michael asked in the darkness.

"It means only you may continue to see The Oracle." Drenacle replied. The doors opened again and he walked back out, leaving Michael alone by himself. Once Drenacle left, they closed again behind him. Michael stood in the complete darkness, not able to see anything. He looked at his hand, realising that, held up in front of him was clearly visible. He had been in this type of darkness before; in the middle of the night in his own bedroom. There he stood, looking around the place. He feared that something was going to attack him. He then got a fright as a golden path lit up in front of him, leading up to a huge golden pyramid. The stairs on the pyramid led up to a golden chair sitting on the very top. It was turned the opposite way to where Michael was standing so he could not see what was sitting in the chair.

"Don't be afraid. I see fear in you, and a lot of it… you're afraid to lose who you love most, let alone whether you will end up with her in the end." The voice spoke, so clear it sounded like it was in his mind.

"Why have I been brought here?" Michael asked.

"Fate shows itself in different ways. Whether you fall to it or not is decided by you and you alone." The voice spoke once more. Michael could then recognise it was a female's voice.

"What is my fate?"

The chair turned around to Michael who could only see a figure wearing a green cloak with a hood that covered almost all of her face and sleeves along her arms; so long they were covering her hands. Michael did not know what her colour skin. She spoke again.

"A time will come when you will find out, and you will have to choose between life and death."

"What about what has been said about me sending the universe into darkness and what not?"

"Truth hides true truth, until the time to reveal itself."

"What do you mean?" asked her, seeming confused above anything.

"Do you have any more questions for me?" The Oracle asked, ignoring him and only looking through his deepest thoughts. She already knew his questions were not over. Michael wondered why she threw such a question at him.

"Ah yes, you do. Your one love… you want to know if she loves you as much as you do her."

"Does she?" Michael asked, hoping for a straight answer.

"Love is strong. Fate is life. It's not over until all is revealed," The Oracle answered.

'_That makes no sense_.' Michael thought.

"Until it is alive…" The Oracle added. "That is all, I see. So goodbye and… all is not lost."

At that, the chair turned back around and everything went back to the normal darkness. The door opened again and Michael returned and joined Drenacle back outside with the door closing behind him.

"What happened? Did you find out who was behind the rumour?" Drenacle asked him.

"No. All that I was told was that fate will reveal itself..."

Michael paused and Drenacle asked him to finish what he was told. No answer came until Michael said, "I didn't understand it."

"We must get you to Firaciend then. Let's go before the police turn up and we really end up in trouble." Drenacle said, hearing sirens in the distance. They all got back in the vehicle and headed to their next destination. On the way Michael noticed one of the articles Drenacle was reading in the newspaper. The heading read '_Shadow Fugitives on the Loose'._ Michael read further...

_**Ingrid Westiser**_

"_Late yesterday, multiple anonymous reports came in from around the city of Terros. Well known wanted fugitive Generals Buhn Hido and Sam Numa of the 'Shadow' were first seen with 11 children after landing in a hanger in the city._

_ "I recognised them from the reports going around and called the police immediately." A local witness said, who witnessed the event. The police received many calls and this led to many forces of the Shadow to be located and eradicated. Once all possible threats over the city were eradicated during a bungled attempt to arrest them, Terros police raided the hanger where the Shadow had first arrived._

"_Unfortunately after we did get rid of the Shadow Ninja's terrorising Terros, we tracked the ship and went to arrest them but they escaped just as we got there," Said Chief of Terros police, Reamus Jung._

"_We have been informed that the Shadow is now headed towards Mestroplosia and have warned the local police there to keep their eyes open. If anyone knows about these events or where the Shadow currently is, or even where else they may head to, contact your local police and give provide as much detail as possible." Jung also informed._

_General Numa is said to be about 5 foot 8, middle aged, have tanned skin, and wearing a dark hooded cloak and a blonde wig of some sort. Buhn Hido is said to be quite tall, middle aged, have three eyes, green skin and wearing a dark hooded cloak as well._

Once Michael had finished reading, the vehicle came to a halt.

"What did you stop for Keisha?"

"There's a road block up ahead." Keisha said. She had a watery coloured face, long black hair half covering the left side of her face, hazel eyes, black eye lashes, and was the only female of Drenacle's group.

"Damn it! Alight, try to get around them and stay subtle; I don't want things turning bloody."

"Ok then; got it Drenacle."

They stayed on the road and intercepted the only rational choice they had; to go through the road block. The vehicle stopped in front of a wall of two armoured S.W.A.T like vehicles that blocked the road. A police man walked up to talk to Keisha. He was quite armoured and lime skinned.

"Good day officer. We're just on our way out of the city to meet friends over in Forcrest." Keisha said in the hope of getting through with that lie. The officer looked and took a glimpse at the passengers in the back, then back to her.

"Wait here." He said in his deep voice. He walked off and Michael put his head up. He could just notice the officer talking to another guarding officer from under his hood. Drenacle pushed Michael's head back down and told him to keep it there.

"If they notice you, we're dead, okay? Just keep your head down like you're asleep."

Michael did as he said, though he did want to see what was going on. The officer came back with the other one. The second officer saw Michael with his head down.

"What's with him?"

"He's sleeping. Please don't bother him; he gets annoyed when people disturb him." Drenacle warned the second officer.

"Okay." He replied. He turned around and spun his hand around twice. The trucks blocking the road moved out of the way to each side of the two lane one way road to allow the vehicle to move through.

"Have a nice day." Keisha said. They drove off into the distance out of the city and into the deadly forest. Michael became uneasy from this. He remembered what Buhn said... "You wouldn't last ten minutes in the forest." Now that the coast was clear he took off his hood and looked out the window again. He could only see dense forest travelling for miles in the distance. The forest was that thick that he could not easily tell how far they were from Terros. He expressed his worry to Drenacle, only keeping it in curiosity and not a worry.

"Is it safe going through here? I heard Buhn Hido say that you couldn't last ten minutes in these forests."

Drenacle laughed for a bit. Keisha did the same, before Drenacle explained.

"Of course he told you that. It is true… you would not last, being human. If you're worried, we know this place back to front. You're safe with us."

Michael was relieved to hear that and did not take offence to Drenacle's laughter and remark. He agreed that he would not last ten minutes.

About ten minutes passed. The vehicle slowed down near a swamp surrounded by many trees and vines. Everyone got out. Michael went to get out as well but was told by Drenacle to stay.

"You'll be safer in the vehicle. We're just looking around. No matter what, stay in the vehicle."

"Why are we stopping here?" Michael asked anyway, ignoring everything Drenacle had said. He was just shushed by Drenacle.

"Stay quiet." He whispered to Michael. "Stay inside the vehicle no matter what, okay?"

Michael agreed. Drenacle and his men got their laser rifles out and walked around quietly in different directions along the wet ground. Their shoes slightly drowned into the ground from every step they took. Michael then heard something in the bushes, turning his attention away from where Drenacle and his men. He was a little scared.

"Drenacle?" he whispered. He was alone in the vehicle by himself with no one in sight. He'd been abandoned, though he didn't leave the vehicle; it was the safest place for him to be. He looked at the trees behind where he heard the sound and to his surprise he saw some sort of brown creature a fair distance away. It was quite large; about the size of an adult triceratops with horns all along its back down to its short tail, an exoskeleton, and five legs with hoof like feet. Its beady eyes were looking at some grass it was eating. Michael watched it as it stood there eating the grass. It looked so cute, but not for long. After it had finished with the grass it looked up and saw Michael in the vehicle.

"_Oh shoot. This isn't good."_ Michael thought. He realised it was looking right at him. It slowly made its way over to the still vehicle, being very cautious but curious at the same time.

"Oh no, this isn't good at all. Come on walk past, walk past, just walk past." Michael hoped, but there was no use. It walked up and began to sniff the vehicle, knocking it around a bit with Michael still inside it, falling to his back on the back grey seat covers. The roof then went over the top of him and the vehicle took off through the bush. The creature reacted and chased after it as best it could while roaring its little head off.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much." Michael said, relieved. He looked back and noticed the creature chasing it in the distance, closing on the vehicle. Finally the vehicle halted sending Michael into the front seat. He saw Drenacle and his men in front of a grey, rectangle shaped space ship. The colour of it was a little lighter than that of the seat covers. The roof of the vehicle disappeared and Michael was able to get out. The creature stopped behind the vehicle and Drenacle's raised their guns at the creature. Michael got back down in the seat and stayed out of the line of fire. Drenacle told everyone to hold their fire.

"Go on, get out of here!" He yelled at it. It got scared and ran off through the forest and out of sight. Michael sat back up.

"I see you had fun." Keisha said, helping Michael out of the vehicle.

"Yeah, I had real fun. What was that thing?" Michael asked them.

"It was a Hungre." One of Drenacle's men answered. "They're very curious, that's why it was so interested in the vehicle. You would've been next."

Michael re-joined them in the ship. The vehicle automatically entered the ship as the doors closed once it was inside. Michael noticed that the other vehicle, looking identical to the one he had been in, was also now on the ship. Drenacle led Michael to the bridge of the ship, telling him that they had hid the ship just in case an incident like this had happened. The bridge was more like a control room. It was much smaller than the Star Ship Euthana and only had control panels at the front under an open window. Keisha and another of Drenacle's men sat in the seats and pressed different buttons. As the ship lifted off from Terrashorm's surface, Michael noticed that they were miles from Terros. He only recognised Terros by the large tree he had seen upon arrival.

"So how much further until we get to Firaciend?" Michael asked Drenacle.

"We have ages to go yet. You should get some rest. There's a bed in there." Drenacle said, pointing to a room opposite the small control room. The room was quite small yet cosy and the bed was against a metal wall with a soft mattress. On it were plain white pillows and a sort of warm black coloured blanket on it. Michael lied down, went to sleep and thought of how much he missed everyone.

**Chapter 11**

**Plans Go South**

On the Star Ship Resavolar, hope was beginning fade and things were not getting any better. Many local planets had received information on the Shadow's presence in the Ontremazra system and were going to precautions, causing landing on any of them too dangerous. Fortunately they were only headed to one planet; the only safe planet in the system. The confusion of why that had all just become wanted criminals still dawned upon everyone. Buhn and Sam had gone over it a million times in their heads and still had no idea why. That soon became the least of their worries.

"Something's going on. Damn it, if I only knew!" Buhn said. He was so frustrated that this had happened as they were about to return home without the person they left Firaciend to get in the first place. He had another fear which involved never being trusted again by his leader. He revealed this to Sam

"Don't worry. I know how to get out of this mess. We say that we had no choice to leave without him." Sam replied, getting Buhn to cool down. But it didn't help much. He then wondered, "_Why do we keep thinking that Master T.E.O's alright and who would take him in the first place..? Who? No one would've recognised him or known who he was."_

"Sam; he'll know we're just failures and probably figured we couldn't do it in the first place." Buhn said negatively.

"Shut it Buhn. If he thought we couldn't do it, he would've sent someone else, okay? We'll find and bring back Lord T.E.O, don't you worry about that."

"Okay then."

"Why don't you use a tracker to find him?" Andrew suggested.

"We tried that. They must've blocked it somehow." Sam said. Andrew went quiet. There was a short silence before Adma barged in to join Andrew. He took Adma out and back down to the lounge room floor to the others and left Buhn and Sam to figure out what to do. On their way down in the elevator to the lounge room floor...

"I know you're worried about him... we all are." Andrew began. Tears started to fall down Adma's face.

"I know that you are. But it's just that... I completely despised him before this happened. I mean, it was really annoying with him constantly going on about the whole fate thing and stuff, but now I've seen a big difference, like... he's changed."

"And so you miss and care about him now. Even I was amazed that you said you wanted to come."

"Yeah well..."

She told Andrew her biggest secret and finished with, "Please don't tell him."

"I promise. That makes sense. He wanted me to tell you he loved you."

"Tell me something I don't know." Adma laughed, while still trying not to cry.

"By the way, funny and weird thing; I believe he chose the best time when everyone wanted him and Becky to be together to try to be good friends with you."

"He was? Okay then." She replied, sounding interested and amazed about this.

"Yeah, crazy of him don't you think?"

"Yeah it is." Adma replied. The elevator doors opened and she joined everyone else. Andrew stayed in the elevator.

"Are you coming?" Adma asked him.

"Na I'm going out. I'll see ya later."

"Okay, see ya then."

The doors closed and Adma walked in and sat in the chair near the heater. The Fellas and Madeleine were watching television. None of them asked how she was, knowing from her body language; worrying, losing sleep and almost crying all the time, showed that she missed Michael and was afraid of something bad happening to him. They all felt this way. All five of them knew how she once hated Michael for going to such lengths. Now she was worried about him. The only conclusion they could arrive she must have had a change of heart.

Days went by and Adma was hanging around with Andrew more than anyone else. The group was getting suspicious and rumours began to down over the truth.

"I'm sorry that I'm being like this. It's just that I'm afraid I've lost him and it's even worse, seeing that I ignored him so much. I feel so guilty now" She told Andrew.

"Don't think like that, I believe he's still alive."

"You really believe so?" She asked him.

"Yes. He probably got away and is with a family on Terrashorm, or something." He reassured her.

"Yeah… you're probably right. It's just that I really miss him, and the thought of him gone... killed even, is unbearable." She said as she looked at him.

"Hey. What are you guys talking about?" Kurt asked, walking up to them with Peter and Mark at his side. Adma walked off.

"What did I say?"

"Nothing, she'd rather be alone." Andrew replied.

"Does Michael know about you two?" Mark asked, trying to sound funny, but choosing the worst time to do so.

"He does. No wonder he wasn't talking to you lot." Someone added, coming up behind them and joining their conversation.

"What do you mean by that Madeleine? What did he tell you?"

She went quiet. They were waiting for an answer. Madeleine thought for a backup answer. She promised to keep her word and not tell them; especially not Adma.

"He was that professional singer at the disco night; that song was he's own."

"What's that got to do with what I asked you?" Kurt asked, expecting a straight answer.

"Fine... he'll kill me if I told you though..."

She went quiet for the second time. Michael asked her not to tell them. How could she tell them without telling them though? Then it came to her.

"Andrew, just let them know what happened that same night."

"What? What are you talking about what happened that same night?"

"Don't try to hide it like it never happened. He told me he saw you and her and-"

"Hey I had nothing to do with that. She hugged me okay. I didn't ask her to do it or anything. She whispered into my ear to pass on a message to Michael when the time was right!" Andrew spurted. He paused with them all looking at him. "_Oh shoot."_

"What message was that?" They asked.

"No. I can't. It's bad enough you lot knowing what happened that night let alone that she said..." He almost spurted it out again but forced himself not to.

"Madeleine, can you leave so we guys can get him to tell us?" Peter whispered into her right ear. She made it as subtle as possible, waiting about a minute before walking off to go get something to eat and telling them good luck in getting the truth out of Andrew. She caught up with Caitie and Becky and they went out in Madeleine's blue glossed Holden Astra for a couple of hours. Now that they were out of the way, Kurt, Peter and Mark eventually got it out of Andrew, finding out that Adma was going to leave and never go back, realising she had made a big mistake coming in the first place. Meanwhile, Sam and Buhn were looking for another destination to stop at before continuing straight on to Firaciend. This would give them a chance to waste their hurry and give them more time fix everything.

"Mestroplosia's good. It's big and the police there shouldn't be after us." Sam suggested to Buhn.

"True. But I've got a feeling that may not be-"

"Sir we have an incoming unidentified ship straight coming out of hyperspace." A Shadow Soldier interrupted at one of the control terminals.

"Stand by; we'll see what they want." Sam ordered.

"Yes sir."

The Star ship Resavolar made its way through space as another ship shot out of nowhere, closing in on their ship. It took a while before they were close to each. It was not until there was a fair distance between them that Buhn and Sam got a real look at this ship. The opposing ship was quite large and square with turret guns all over it making the distance they were from it very dangerous.

"Sir, they're in firing range."

"Send the fighters out to meet them and see what they want. They don't look friendly at all." Buhn said.

"Delay that order. Sorry Buhn, but if we do that we may make them think we want to fight." Sam quickly said before the order was taken out. "I've got a better idea." Then he said out loud speaking to the unknown people in the other ship through a communicator, "This is General Sam Numa of the Star ship Resavolar. To whom am I speaking?"

No reply was made. Sam asked again, but there was still no reply. Buhn noticed small rectangle ships with oval wings and turret guns on each; top and bottom of the wing, begin to fly out of the opposing ship.

"Sam. Unidentified fighters are headed straight for us."

Sam froze. He didn't have any idea what to do.

"Sir..?" The Shadow Soldier repeated before Buhn took over and said, "Send an empty transport out and see what they do." A small round oval ship about the same size of their fighters flew out of one of the hangers and in front of at least twenty enemy fighters set up around the opposing ship. They watched and waited for the unknown ships individual's reaction and see what move to make next. It was quiet until a turret from the main enemy ship shot the transport; blowing it to pieces through a giant explosion. Buhn and Sam then noticed the same thing. The enemy was one they had fought before.

"Shoot! Send all fighters out and open fire! Now..!" They both yelled. "All shields up!"

War broke out in space. All Buhn and Sam could see were both their fighters and the enemy's ships blowing up and flying around shooting each other. The Star Ship and the main enemy mother ship were doing the same. There was a hail of fire everywhere.

"They're all over us. We can't beat them." A Shadow Soldier said through his communicator in his fighter to Buhn and Sam while being chased and almost shot down by two enemies on his tail. A small armoured ship came into range of the Star ship Resavolar... a pirate ship. This pirate ship was long and rectangle, yet it was quite small with turret guns on the front and both sides. It was flying straight towards one of the Star Ship Resavolar's many hangers.

"Sir, we have an enemy transport, headed for hanger ba 7." The Shadow Soldier informed the two of them from on his control panel. Commander Gus was in that hanger.

"Can you hold them off?" Buhn asked Commander Gus.

"We'll try, but nothings guaranteed."

Inside the hanger, a legion of Shadow Soldiers led by Commander Gus was set up all over the hanger so it was protected as much as possible. They were ready for the pirates attack. Commander Gus wore the same clothing as Billy. They drew their laser blasters and were in place, locked and loaded.

"Steady. Steady." Commander Gus quietly ordered to his men. They were patient until the pirate ship flew slowly in and used its turrets to take out half the hanger and the soldiers protecting it.

"Retreat to the entrance!" Gus yelled over and over, realising they had no possible chance of winning in their current position. The surviving men evacuated the hanger and blocked the entrance to stop the pirates continuing any further.

"This is Commander Gus. Generals, the pirates have entered the hanger through heavy fire. There was nothing we could do. Fortunately, we have blocked the door into the hanger so they can't get-"

On the other end Buhn and Sam heard a giant explosion after that and it all went quiet for a while.

"Security breech. Security breech." The main central computer kept repeating. Buhn and Sam were stunned. The pirates made their way further into the heart of the ship, killing any soldiers that got in their way. A group of silver, tall, muscled robotic men with sphere like heads and red eyes follow him through the ship.

"Our cameras and communications are out. We have no idea what's going on."

"I've told you many times Buhn, calm down! I'm thinking alright." Sam said, trying to keep calm himself. He came up with an idea, ordering for the main elevators to be shut down. He hoped that would stop them from getting to the teenagers, hiding on the lounge room floor. They could hear everything going on outside.

"Why don't they go and defeat them? They're strong and smart enough to defeat them and make them leave." Andrew suggested.

"Probably because they're the leaders of the Shadow so they wouldn't do that unless the invaders get to them on the bridge first." Madeleine replied. Andrew went quiet as they all stayed in the lounge room like they were asked, waiting to be told that the threat had lifted. About fifteen minutes passed and the enemy ship and left. Everything went quiet once more. Buhn came in to see them.

"They've gone, for now."

"Who were they? Were they the police?" Becky asked him.

"No worse; much worse... pirates."

"Pirates; what were they after?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know. Whatever they were after, they didn't get it. Now we have no choice but to land on Mestroplosia to conduct repairs."

"Let me guess. That means it'll take us longer to get to Firaciend." Andrew groaned.

"Yes. But it also means we can just see what happens." Buhn replied. He then thought fearfully, "_Whoever's behind this has us where he wants us._" He left everyone to go back to what they were doing before all the danger came, just as Caitie realised something.

"Hey, where's Adma?" She asked. Buhn turned around and counted the number of people in the group. There was one missing, beside Michael. He left immediately. Seconds later he returned and informed them that Adma was not on Earth. She was indeed missing. Everyone searched the ship looking for Adma but had no luck. The only choice they could make was to head to the planet Mestroplosia. After three hours of search, Buhn wanted answers. He was assured that he had gotten everyone to the lounge room floor as soon as the alarm was heard.

"I was with her when the alarm went and we were asked to head straight there. I turned around and she was gone. I don't know what happened?" Andrew said.

In the meantime Michael was getting a feeling something was wrong. Though he didn't know what it was that bugged him so much. He tried to forget about it and get it out of his head but nothing worked. Night came around and Michael went to bed; he felt he had to even though he wasn't that tired. He closed his eyes and went into a deep sleep. He was standing in some sort of arena with some sort of red energy surrounding him. He looked forward and saw Adma running at him yelling something that he couldn't make out. Then; Ka boom! He awoke and sat up. His heart was racing so fast. Keisha was sitting next to his bed.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah; I just had a bad dream, that's all." He replied. She walked out and left Michael to his thoughts. It was weird that she was there. Later, he was sitting in a chair in the control room next to Drenacle who told me why she was watching over me.

"I heard you had a nightmare and Keisha told me that you got a fright from her sitting next to the bedside."

"Yeah I thought it a little freaky and weird." Michael began. "Why was she there?"

Drenacle told him how he was making noises and tossing and turning before asking what the bad dream was. Michael only gave a brief explanation finishing with, "It wasn't good either. I miss her." He continued.

"Miss who, someone close to you?" Drenacle asked him. He was rather intrigued and wanted to know more.

"Yes, a girl called Adma; I've loved her for ages,"

"And does she know this?"

"I don't know." Michael replied. Then he went quiet. Drenacle decided not to ask any more questions. Michael clearly did not want to talk about it. There was a silence before one of Drenacle's men came in and informed them of their current situation. He was a bit taller than Keisha but kind of like a clone of Drenacle with the same coloured demon like skin. He wore an armoured black suit and pants.

"Drenacle, we are almost at Mestroplosia." He said. Michael walked out.

"Good Brendan, land there. We may have a chance of finding the Shadow."

"Okay then." Brendan replied. Drenacle walked out and caught up with Michael. Brendan sat down with Keisha and took over Drenacle's current work.

"Did you hear? We'll be arriving on in Tutros on Mestroplosia." Drenacle said. Michael turned around.

"Good to hear. Will-"

At that very moment, Michael passed out and hit the floor in the ship.

"Michael? Michael, are you alright? He's passed out!"

"What happened?" Keisha asked, running to Drenacle's side.

"He just fell to the floor and passed out."

**Chapter 12**

**The Red Shroud**

Michael thought he was dead. He was in some sort of trance, so he also thought.

"Hello!" He yelled. There was no answer. "Am I dead?"

"You're far from it." A familiar voice in an echo answered at once.

"What's going on? What happened to me?"

"I've brought you here to find your inner strength. Fear is in all, but it's bravery that you need to defeat it."

"What do you mean?"

A vision came into Michael's mind but it was like he was actually there. There was Adma, knocked out in a ship heading to a planet covered in high buildings in a large city. He yelled at Adma, trying to get her just as it all disappeared and darkness returned.

"What was that?" He asked, all confused.

"I am here to show you your inner power... one of four powers. Focus; and it will reveal itself." The voice answered. So Michael focused. As he did, he began to have a strange feeling.

"That's it. Let it out and show what you have."

Michael looked at his right hand, then his left. He noticed sort of red energy, so he put his arms out straight and shot a laser blast from out of his hands into the darkness.

"Wow... how... why... what?" Michael asked. He was nothing but confused. He was human, with no special powers. Now this happened. It was strange.

"There will be a time when you will understand." The voice replied.

"Wait. Are you the Oracle?"

"Yes." The Oracle answered.

"Why am I here? What do you want? Will I save her?" Michael asked her, wanting to know how much of a chance he rally had.

"You have seen what is entwined together."

"So?" Michael said, confused further.

"Whether you fall to it or not is decided by you and you alone." The Oracle repeated. This was the second time she had said those exact words and still Michael still did not understand. It all disappeared and Michael awoke. He was lying in a soft bed in what looked to be a hospital ward. Being in a hospital, similar like on Earth was the only thing that kept him from panicking. He sat up. His head ached as much as he did.

"_Where am I? What happened to me?" _He wondered. The whole room was white, the walls were metal with two windows; one on each side of the door where he noticed through the window on the right, some sort of robot. It was looking through something on what looked to be a table. It then turned around in its chair, got up and came through the door into the room. Its structure was humanoid with a medium build. It had an oval head and round black robotic eyes. Michael looked out the window opposite the door around the black furry curtains on each side of it. What he saw amazed him. There were futuristic buildings and vehicles flying past from left to right and vice versa.

"I see you've finally woken up. Do you want to see your friend? He brought you here." The robot said looking over some papers in front of him.

"Yes thanks. Can I have a drink of some sort? I'm really thirsty." Michael replied, lying back down and resting some more.

"Yes sir, just a moment."

The robot left the room. Michael had no idea what happened to him. The last thing he remembered was the strange dream he had and being in the ship. He was not sure whether it was real. Drenacle walked in.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah I think. I, I'm not sure what happened."

Michael noticed Drenacle was holding a can of some sort of drink and gave it to him.

"Thanks." Michael said. He sat up and had a sip from the can. It was lemon flavour. He put it aside on the white bench and then looked down at his hand.

"What is it?" Drenacle asked. Michael opened his fist and saw something that scared him a bit. In his hand was a small red circle of energy. He closed his fist. Drenacle looked at him funny.

"What was that?"

"It was nothing" Michael quickly replied.

"Michael, I saw what was in your hand. How did you do that? What happened when passed out?"

"Nothing," Michael repeated, and then they both went quiet before Drenacle decided to ask again.

"Michael, what happened when you passed out? How did you make that red energy in your hand? I can help you. You know I can." Drenacle insisted.

"Okay. The truth is I learnt some power, or unleashed it or something. The thing is I was told I have a power, of four different powers. The Oracle, she got me to do it and showed me..."

Michael paused, knowing he had said too much. Drenacle insisted once more.

"Please. What did The Oracle show you?"

"Adma in a space ship being taken captive to a planet...They were taking her here!" Michael finished. He thought back to the vision, realising that she was on Mestroplosia. The thing he was unsure about was her exact location.

"I see. Okay then, we'll have to get her back. You need to rest. I'll figure something out in the meantime, okay?"

"Okay then." Michael replied. But he couldn't rest, now knowing that Adma was in trouble and not safe with the Shadow anymore. There also was the unknown of whether the vision was true or not.

Meanwhile, Adma was not in a good situation at all. She was tied to a chair and blindfolded in a small house-like building in the slum levels of Mestroplosia.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" She yelled. She was freaking out with what was going on and where she was. There was no answer. She asked again. There was still no answer. She was beginning to lose hope, and also began to cry a bit, thinking it was over. Then she heard someone.

"Hello? What do you want with me?" She asked. The rope tying her to the chair was undone and Adma felt free. That only lasted a few seconds. Her hands were then tied behind her back. The stranger grabbed her and carried her somewhere while she was still blindfolded.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked over and over again. The stranger still didn't answer. He hit a few of times to shut her up. She was put into a vehicle with a group of people that took her to an unknown location. The drive went for about ten minutes before the vehicle slowed to a complete stop. She then was taken out of the vehicle and led to the entrance some sort of building where she could hear a stranger talking to the capturers.

"What are you hear for?" A robotic voice asked them.

"We're here to see The Red Shroud. We have something for him; a gift." Another voice answered beside her. Everything went quiet before the sound of a giant creaky door opening where she was led inside. Even under the blindfold she could tell that she was taken into some building. The light through the blindfold darkened and the breeze she felt soon dispersed completely. She could hear another person asking them the same question whom was provided with the same answer as the robot. She was led by the capturers before finally stopping and ending up on her knees on a sort metal floor. The blindfold was taken off and she looked up at a hooded figure right in front of her. His face couldn't be seen, though she could see that he was completely red; cloak, bottoms, shoes and all. He had light red skin and had his chest uncovered making him look very strong as if he was showing off his six pack. He also had sharp nails at the end of each of his long fingers and was lying on a big, dark red couch with red pillows on it on top of a platform to make the couch higher than where they were. At each end of the couch and at all the rooms exits were the leaders guards wearing grey armour with red trimmed lines, a red helmet not covering their face. They looked very demon-like. The room was completely red with a small area with poles opposite the couch behind them. There were also red exhausts coming out of the vents around the room creating a red fog and making it very hot inside. The figure looked down at them. They were surrounded by all different types of aliens standing around enjoying themselves while they watched and listened. Adma saw a young bald demon male that looked to be in his twenties in a red tunic-like cloak, go up beside the figure peacefully sitting on the couch, his legs up on it and stretched to the other side. The male whispered something in his ear. The figure began to grin.

"And what is this gift you have for me Grond?" He asked in a deep coarse voice that made Adma shiver.

"Your Excellency, the infamous crime lord Red Shroud. We have this for you. We captured her on a ship we raided." Yeko answered. "We thought she'd enjoy being by your side. Grond said. He was about quite tall, had red eyes, dark green skin and was wearing a large dark brown coat over a black top, dark jeans and dark silver shoes. Adma looked back up at The Red Shroud; her legs beginning to hurt a bit now. The Red Shroud looked down at Adma, then back up and laughed with the rest of the crowd.

"And what will I need this for?"

"A slave, a prisoner, a servant; she is quite useful your Excellency and should serve you well. She will do anything you ask her to."

The Red Shroud thought for a bit. Adma didn't like this one bit.

"_Please disagree. Please disagree. Please disagree."_ She said in her head over and over. The Red Shroud finally spoke and Adma cowered.

"Ah yes, I see. I haven't had one of those in a while. My last servant girl became useless and was well... disposed of. Well here's your pay. Liam?" He said. After he did, the same young man who had whispered into the Red Shroud's ear in the first place left the room, returning moments later with some gold, in which he handed to Grond.

"It's a pleasure doing business." Grond said. He moved to the side and allowed the Red Shroud to get a good look at his new prised possession. Adma got to her feet, now able to and the Red Shroud's evil smile grew larger.

"Take her away, get her changed, and then bring her back here." The Red Shroud ordered.

"What?" Adma said in a worrying voice. Two guards came up, grabbed her by the arms, and followed Liam while taking her to the lower levels of the place. Not long after, they returned with Adma. She looked very unhappy and distraught from all the glaring eyes pointed on her dressed in a long, very thin almost see-through; making her bra and underwear visible underneath, gown-like, strapless dress which only went up her chest. It was like a gown due to its structure of being open a bit in the middle all the way down past her bare feet. She also a thin bracelet fitted around her neck, a ring on her forefinger on her left hand and a flat headband crown on her head, all the colour of bright hot red. Her hair was in a long ponytail. The guards walked away from her and she was left standing in the middle of the room, looking very revealing on the warm metal floor in front of not only the Red Shroud, but everyone else.

"A perfect job Liam; she looks the part But can you play?" The Red Shroud asked, looking down at her, his eyes closely examining every part of her soft skin. To him, she might as well have been naked and been done with it. Adma hesitated. Everyone in the room laughed horridly before the Red Shroud silenced them before saying, "Dance for me."

She looked a bit worried after hearing these words and hesitated a little, though she knew she couldn't go against his wish. She was his and just had to do what he asked of her for her sake and her life. An alien band near the west corner of the room began to play some music on guitars and drums and she started to dance. She danced as everyone around the throne room watched her and cheered. She even danced on the poles and everything, trying her best to keep the Red Shroud happy with her. The crowd cheered and she continued until the music stopped and she made a small bow in front of the Red Shroud. The Red Shroud clapped a couple of times before saying, "Excellent... You now have two choices. Come here yourself..."

"Or what else?" Adma replied. The guards grabbed her for the second time and forcefully put her on the couch with the Red Shroud.

"What's your name?" He asked her.

"Adma..." She answered in a scared voice.

"Don't be afraid. You'll be fine with me as long as you do everything I ask and tell you to."

These words made Adma feel worse. She sat on the couch pretty much lying on the Red Shroud which he enjoyed a lot. As she was like this, she noticed Grond his men had not left, before looking to the left of them and seeing a hooded figure leave the throne room. The Red Shroud put his arms around her waist, pulled her onto him and whispered in her right ear, "You're going to learn how things work around here quite quickly my dear."

He then laughed in his coarse voice and kissed her on her soft face a couple of times which made her feel a major uncomfortableness. For the whole day she spent her time serving the Red Shroud as best she could. This included entertaining him in very bad ways while just trying to stay alive. She hated it but she had to try her best to not displease the crime lord, fearing if she did, it would be the last thing she would ever do. At that point, she began to wish she didn't come on this adventure and felt like that now she would never get the chance to tell Michael the truth. She stayed on the couch as the Red Shroud did his usual business and she was seen as his 'trophy' that would never escape him. Adma was finally happy when nightfall finally came around and everyone had gone to sleep in bedroom chambers in another part of place that was also called The Red Shroud. The throne room was left empty and quiet. Adma laid there on her side. Her dress was off so she was only in her red bikini under red sheets on the couch; now turned into a fold out bed. She laid there awake and uncomfortable with the Red Shroud's arms around her tight and her half naked back up against his musclier chest. She squirmed to get away but then saw the guards standing in front of the couch, completely awake with only her thoughts.

"_Damn you Michael for getting me in this mess. Damn you. Okay, face it, no one can save me and I'm going to be the Red Shroud's servant for the rest of my life. Oh, only if there was a way out of this. I'll just be his and I'll just stay like this until I'm no use to him anymore. Oh god. Why is that my only choice?" _Adma thought worryingly. She fell asleep not long after that which was amazing.

Michael was still recovering in Hospital when the robotic doctor came in to see him. It had been taking care of him since day one in the hospital.

"How're you today Michael?" It asked looking over a clipboard hung on the end of the bed.

"Good. Is everything fine?"

The doctor looked over the many pages on the clipboard.

"Yes. Everything seems fine so you'll be allowed to go today."

Michael was relieved to hear that. The doctor left the room and Drenacle walked in straight after. As soon Michael had seen Drenacle, he told him the good news.

"You ready go find Adma then?"

"Yeah, I just need to get dressed first." Michael replied. He was excited and feeling excellent. Drenacle's plan to find Adma extended that excitement.

"Oh, of course; I'll just be outside then."

Drenacle waited outside. Michael closed the curtains of the inner and outer windows so he could get changed in private. He lastly put his cloak on and met Drenacle outside, who was a desk filling in some final information for Michael before heading to the elevator and headed to the bottom floor. Drenacle told Michael of some information his men received in the meantime.

"We heard that the Red Shroud received a human servant the other day. We may believe it might be who you are looking for. That can wait though." He said. Michael did not like the sound of that. He replied, saying that if this information was accurate, they should get there as soon as possible. Drenacle ignored his remark as the two of them exited the hospital and got in the vehicle parked outside and took off. The trip went for about five minutes before the vehicle stopped in front of a tall metal building. Everyone got out except for Keisha who parked the vehicle in the car park below. They walked in through the entrance automatic sliding doors and went to the main service desk where a lady was sitting at. She was quite young; only about the same age as Michael, though she was a little shorter than him, had fiery coloured skin, long blonde hair hanging down her back, and was wearing a white work shirt with the name Lyn on the nametag. She also had an ear piece in her right ear and oval glasses over her grey eyes.

"May I help you?" She asked Drenacle.

"Yes, we booked the hotel penthouse on the 14th floor. Mr Threon."

"Ah yes. Here's your key. Enjoy."

"Thank you and we will." Drenacle replied. He walked around the counter with both Michael and his men all following and entered an elevator placed at the west side of the main reception area. On the other side had stairs going up to the higher levels as well as a large fountain, dispensing water into a bowl around it. The elevator took them all up to the 14th floor. The doors opened into a long corridor.

"This way guys; let's see, 164. Here it is." He said as he came up to a wooden door that he then opened. They all went inside. The penthouse was very big with olive blue coloured walls and a dark green carpet floor. There were a few creamed coloured couches and chairs in front of a big flat screen television on the wall. On the other side of the room was a circle of stairs leading up to a second level where Michael believed the bedrooms were.

"Michael, your bedroom's in the room on the right at the top of those stairs. Get some rest, you'll need it, and if you need me for anything my rooms next to yours." Drenacle said. Michael made his way to the bedroom. When he got to his room and opened the door, he came to see an enormous room with a comfy king sized bed with silver pillows and doona at the other end opposite the doorway. A television identical to the one in the main part of the penthouse opposite sat at the left side of the room. There were no windows either. He removed his cloak, threw it on a counter next to the television and took off his shoes, laying them just beside the bed. He got into the bed and went to sleep. The sheets were very soft and comfortable. It had been a tiring day. He still couldn't stop worrying about Adma and whatever trouble she was in. Drenacle was sitting on the couch when he noticed an envelope on the coffee table in front of the couch with his name on it. He picked it up, opened it and read it. It said,

"_I know who you are Drenacle Threon and I know who the Lord seeks. The Shadow is on their way to Mestroplosia and they will not get there in time. Meet with the Red Shroud. He can help Lord T.E.O with his new power and fate in which we all know will end with victory and resurrection."_

_S.S. Resavolar._

This made no sense at all. Drenacle couldn't believe that he had just read a letter that was sent from the Star ship Resavolar. There was one thing that made him a little suspicious though. The letter said, _'The shadow will not make it in time' _not, '_We are on our way but will not make it in time.'_ He put it in the draw of the coffee table in front of one of the couches and thought about what they had just become a part of.

Back on the Star ship Resavolar, hope was running thin. They were not far from Mestroplosia when they got an unknown encrypted call.

"Shadow, we have Lord T.E.O and he is fine. Adma is not far and we know where she is. We will let you know when we have them both safe and sound and will send you our current position on Mestroplosia. In the meantime, continue on to Firaciend and inform the leader that we will be there days from now."

"Who is this?" Sam asked as soon as the deep, unfamiliar voice finished. There came no answer and all that came up on the screen was a map of Mestroplosia with a red dot on it.

"That's where the transmission came from sir. It seems like a hotel in the North West side of the city." One of the Shadow Soldiers working a terminal answered. Sam became intrigued by this but one thing still bothered him.

"Sam, this is it. We've found them! All we need to do is go there and... Sam, are you even listening?" Buhn asked him as he saw Sam's half happy, half concerned face. "Sam, we've found them. We can get them back and then get back to Firaciend and he'll be happy that we completed the mission with no mistakes!" Buhn finished in excitement while trying to convince Sam this was a good thing. Sam looked back at him.

"What if it's a trap and the pirates have both Lord T.E.O and Adma and they're going to try and get us next. We're all wanted fugitives Buhn. I don't see this as an end... only a much worse beginning."

Buhn looked at him funny, not sure of what to say.

"Take a chance Sam. Take a chance for Lord T.E.O."

Sam thought for a second about Buhn's proposition and finally they came to an agreement. They ordered the ship to make its way to Mestroplosia. In the meantime they informed all of Michael and Adma's friends what they were doing which created joy for the rest of the day. This was the best news that had heard in days, hoping that they would see Michael and Adma again. Space was a large place. Nothing was guaranteed.

**Chapter 13**

**The Apprentice**

The next morning the Star ship Resavolar had landed on Mestroplosia, Adma had woken up with the Red Shroud inside The Red Shroud, and Michael, Drenacle and his men had left the hotel and made their way to The Red Shroud. The group got in the vehicle and headed to the lower level of the city also known as "The Underground" of Mestroplosia.

"This is the part of the city where the worst of criminals and smugglers come to deal and sell stolen and black market goods." Drenacle said. They went from street to street, ignoring the bystanders watching them pass. They did not want to draw too much attention to themselves. Michael of all people understood this. They finally stopped in front of a wide wall with a huge door in the middle of it. Keisha and Brendan stayed in the vehicle and parked on the side of the street. The ground was rocky and not concrete compared to the higher levels of Mestroplosia. Michael followed Drenacle and his men up to the entrance of the front door. It was quiet and the only sound that stirred was a robotic voice that came from a communicator next to the entrance to The Red Shroud.

"What are you here for?" The robotic voice asked.

"I'm Drenacle Threon and this is Lord T.E.O. We're here to see The Red Shroud." Drenacle replied. Michael became a little uneasy being in a place like this, being reminded of a movie he once saw. There was another silence before the robotic voice spoke again.

"You and the Lord T.E.O may enter. Your men must stay out here though."

Drenacle nodded to his men and agreed to those terms. His men left their side and returned to where the vehicle was parked. The creaky entrance door opened and both he and Drenacle walked into the darkness where the door closed, trapping them in a dark hallway.

"Don't worry Michael; we'll be fine. Trust me." Drenacle assured him. The hallway lit up in a dim red from glow sticks hanging off the sides of the walls at each side. Someone walked up to meet them.

"Greetings Mr Threon and Lord T.E.O; I am Liam, assistant of his master the Red Shroud." Liam said, introducing himself before saying, "This way." He turned and began to walk off hoping the two would follow; they did not. He faced them and said, "This way... follow me." This time Michael and Drenacle followed Liam, having the lights automatically light up making the red mist through the place visible and freaky. They passed many doorways that led to other lower parts of The Red Shroud. As they journeyed lower, it became hot and more humid like they were almost at the centre of the planet itself. Michael was even beginning to sweat and felt as though he should take off his cloak and black, long sleeved top under that. The feeling was that terrible. No summer days on Earth were ever this hot. The three eventually got to the throne room after walking down a circle of stairs. There were a large number of aliens in the room talking to each other as the Red Shroud lied on the couch with a human girl in a revealing red dress in front of him like he was showing her off. The girl was resting in front of him; her eyes closed like she was asleep; either that or she couldn't stand the sight around the throne room. Liam went up to The Red Shroud and whispered something in his ear as he had done with the pirates. The Red Shroud looked down at Drenacle and Michael, intrigued of the reason for their arrival.

"And what did you want to see me for Mr Drenacle Threon?"

Adma opened her eyes and noticed Michael. Her hope of being rescued had returned.

"_Please notice it's me. Please notice it's me."_ She anxiously thought to herself. Michael looked at the girl and realised she looked exactly like Adma. His heart began to run faster than it ever had before.

_"No, it can't be her. It just can't be."_ Michael thought, trying to fight the truth. He never wanted to see any of his friends in such a situation as a prisoner. Drenacle informed the Red Shroud of why they had come to The Red Shroud. The Red Shroud laughed and Adma looked up at him.

"You think I'm just going to teach a human boy such a technique? He's not ready for such a thing. He never will be."

"I am so. I'll prove it and-"

"KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT BOY!" The Red Shroud interrupted before Michael could finish. The room went quiet just as before as the Red Shroud spoke again.

"I will decide if you're ready. Are you reasonably patient?"

"Yes I am."

"And you're ready to be trained by me?"

"Yes."

"Are you at my service?" He asked straight after. Without thinking, Michael again replied, "Yes." before realising what he just agreed to. Adma didn't see this as something good and knew the Red Shroud just tricked the. He now had a new servant to work for him. Her hope slowly faded as the Red Shroud turned his attention to her, putting his hands on her stomach and rubbing her up chest while he continued to speak.

"Excellent. You are now my apprentice young T.E.O."

"No I meant... Ah, thank you then." Michael replied in surprise. He kept his cool and saw the small anger in the Red Shroud's prisoner's eyes. She hated him touching her.

"Will we be able to accommodate ourselves in the meantime?" Drenacle asked.

"Yes. There are bedrooms down those stairs."

The Red Shroud pointed to a doorway with stairs going down into the hallway to the left of them and his right.

"Thank you." Drenacle said. In light of the Red Shroud's happiness of another human in his service and the addition of his new apprentice, he got Adma to dance for them. The music started up and she left her place on the couch, and began to dance. Michael sat at a nearby table and watched; disgusted. Drenacle left the throne room and arrived when the song had finished and she gave bow before the Red Shroud who happily watched from the couch. He then ordered for a slow song to be played and got Adma to dance on the couch, in a sort of lap dance for him. It was evil. She hesitated at first, but then did as she was asked. She stood on her knees on the couch right in front of the Red Shroud, moving her hips. He enjoyed this and stroked her legs. In this dance she slowly removed the gown-like dress and threw it aside. The crowd cheered as the bra went next and was thrown behind the couch. The Red Shroud fondled her medium sized breasts as she continued. She looked to be enjoying it herself, but her mouth told otherwise. Now Michael couldn't bear to watch. He left the room as the song finished. She grabbed the gown and bra and put them back on. The Red Shroud was very impressed with this performance. He greedily smiled and kissed her cheek as she rested in front of him once more. She was nothing but unhappy felt humiliated for the disgusting seductive type of dance. She had no choice though. Drenacle returned and sat back down with his men. He noticed straight away that Michael was missing. He saw Adma taken from the Red Shroud's side and out of the throne room. The Red Shroud called for many more tables to be brought in. Lunch time had come around. The Red Shroud left his couch and met with Drenacle. Yeko Grond stood by the Red Shroud's side as he sat down. Adma returned not long after carrying a couple of plates of food. The throne room was filled with red tables and chairs that everyone sat and talked at. Adma went around the tables serving food and drinks. The Red Shroud noticed his apprentice was not present.

"Drenacle, I see my apprentice hasn't been around for a while. Liam, go find Master T.E.O for me and tell him I want to see him immediately." The Red Shroud ordered before going back to his conversation with Drenacle. Liam left and did as he was ordered. Adma listened in on their conversation while she served them all drinks. She was not the only woman servant serving them. Many other female of various skin colours also were serving. They although wore stunning red dresses and red low heeled shoes unlike Adma. She was clearly shown to be the Red Shroud's personal slave.

"He's brave and will be a perfect apprentice. He just is not used to this sort of, place." Drenacle explained.

"He's brave but shy. He'd better have more bravery and strength than this or else I'm not teaching him a thing. I don't want to be wasting my time here."

"I assure you Red Shroud, you're not." Drenacle reassured him, finishing his red glass of blood coloured liquid.

Michael lied on his bedroom chamber bed thinking of how he was going to last as the Red Shroud's apprentice. The red bed was amazingly comfortable with plain red sheets, doona and pillows. Liam finally found him lying on the bed. He sat up as soon as he saw Liam come in unannounced.

"Mr T.E.O; the Red Shroud wishes you immediately in the throne room."

Michael didn't say a word and instead stared down at the metal floor. Liam repeated. "The Red Shroud wants to see you immediately in the throne room."

"Tell him I don't feel like it." Michael replied angrily.

"You said you'd be his apprentice. Do you know what that means? It means you must do what he asks when he wants it done. I've seen so many people go against him and have the understandableness of the unforgettable consequences that have followed after. Believe me, they've been un-pretty sir."

Michael looked up at him and thought about what he just said. Michael got up and off the bed, agreeing on the basis of having no choice. He went with Liam back up to the throne room to join the Red Shroud as his new guests, but wasn't happy about it. Adma saw him arrive and sit down in a seat next to Drenacle. This was her chance to get help.

"Ah here he is. Perfect." The Red Shroud said.

"You wanted to see me Red Shroud?" Michael replied staring at Adma was changing the Red Shroud's glass before coming next to him. As she handed him a fresh glass, she whispered in his left ear, "Help me Michael." and walked off again. She hoped he had heard her. Michael's heart began to race and his attention turned to just see her leave the throne room. His suspicion was true. She had become the Red Shroud's personal slave. The Red Shroud spoke to him as Michael had a sip from the glass, sending his head to face the Red Shroud two seats away.

"Yes. We'll begin training tomorrow morning. Get some rest, you'll need it. That is all."

Michael was surprised that was the only thing he was wanted for. Allowed this chance, he went back down to his bedroom and went to bed. Although he had trouble getting to sleep knowing now that Adma was with the Red Shroud and he couldn't do anything about it. He heard footsteps and sat back up. A blue skinned alien woman walked in the doorway. She was quite tall, yet young, wearing nothing but a short, slightly see through red gown. I wondered why she was here. It was soon answered.

"His Excellency sent me to ease your stress Master T.E.O." She said staring at him with seductive cream coloured eyes. She began to remove the strap on left shoulder, hinting in her reason for being there. Michael's eyes widened. This was the first time he had been in this situation. He told her this was his first time, and that he wasn't interested anyway. This led him to ask a reasonably mistakeable question.

"Can you bring the Red Shroud's servant in here instead?"

She looked surprised and informed me that she, the human slave, was for the Red Shroud only. Michael figured this and told the woman to leave. She did as he said and let him be. Michael tried to sleep but found it difficult. Midnight had slowly crept up, and he was still awake thinking about the state Adma was in. Drenacle came in to see if he had gone to sleep yet. Once he saw Michael lying there awake, he came in.

"How come you're not asleep?" He asked. Michael didn't answer. Drenacle spoke again.

"I know you don't like this place. I saw the concern once we got here, but this is the way things are in these dark 'underground' places. You need to be trained how to use this power as well."

"It's not just that... It's just... seeing her." Michael replied in a low tone.

"It's what... love, lust towards his prisoner?" Drenacle guessed. He was not even close.

"It's kind of love. Look, I don't want to talk about it."

Drenacle realised what was wrong.

"You know her?"

"...yeah, she was with us and the Shadow. I just can't believe she's ended up here like this. Oh, this is my fault."

"_It's Adma."_ Drenacle thought in another realisation. He then gave Michael a confused look.

"Why is it your fault? You didn't give her to him yourself did you?"

"There's no way I would Drenacle!" Michael blurted back. Silence fell before any of them spoke again.

"I'll speak to the Red Shroud and see if we can get her back." He told Michael in confidence.

Happiness came into Michael's eyes as he stared back at Drenacle with hope. Drenacle then told Michael his plan and they both went to bed. Michael finally fell to sleep, ready for his big day of training. In his deep sleep, Michael saw all of his friends and Adma inside some tower on a volcanic planet before his dream went bad. A giant invasion of fighter spaceships attacked the tower but luckily Michael had jumped out before looking back and seeing the tower being blown to the ground. He awoke with a fright and saw Liam standing next to his bed, making Michael jump.

"Are you alright sir?" Liam asked him. "I'm sorry if I disturbed your sleep, but the Red Shroud would like to see you."

Michael got out of bed still in his clothes he'd worn since he was separated from the Shadow; though they had been washed at the penthouse. Instead of his black cloak though, he wore a red cloak provided by the Red Shroud. He was asked to wear instead his black one. He followed Liam up to the throne room. When they got there, Michael sent his eyes straight at the Red Shroud's couch where Adma, wearing nothing but the red bikini. There was no sheet over her. The humid temperature inside the place proved no need for one. The Red Shroud kept her safe with guards standing at each side of the couch, guarding her. He and Liam stopped in the middle of the throne room not far from the couch where Drenacle was waiting.

"Come, this way." Drenacle whispered so he wouldn't wake up Adma. They followed him and Liam up the stairs and out through about three different corridors until they got to a huge room. It was like a giant arena with rows and rows of seats around it and at the opposite end to where they entered, high above was a balcony where a couch identical to the one in the throne room sat. The Red Shroud was awaiting their arrival in the arena.

"Nice of you to join me apprentice. I was beginning to think you had forgotten our arrangement." He said. He motioned for Drenacle and Liam to leave as the first session of Michael's training was about to begin.

"This is the arena where I will train you... day after day. I ask for you, you come; easy as that. The Red Shroud began. Michael listened to his new master, though he did not like the predicament. "Is there a certain reason for this?"

"Well I learnt this power and-"

"II was not asking you boy. You will speak only when it is permitted."

Michael did not like this one bit. He was seen as nothing but a low life to this crime lord and understood Adma's sadness. The Red Shroud had turned to Drenacle, stationed on the wall of the arena edge.

"No not really." He replied.

"Good then. We begin now!"

The Red Shroud leapt into the air and landed on the other side of the arena facing Michael. Michael looked confused. He didn't understand why the Red Shroud jumped to the other side of the arena and left Michael by himself. Drenacle laid his back on the arena wall watching them both. It was quiet before the Red Shroud ran at Michael and threw a punch at him hitting Michael in the face and knocking him to the ground. The Red Shroud jumped back to the far end of the arena again. Michael sat there on his knees in front of Drenacle who did nothing.

"Pity Lord T.E.O. Your reputation perceives you. I was hoping for more than this. Get up."

Michael got back on his feet; his mouth beginning to bleed a little.

"_What the hell? God that hurt, that's it. He's going down now!"_ Michael thought to himself.

"Humans aren't the strongest are they?" The Red Shroud said, laughing.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you about that." Drenacle replied.

Michael closed his eyes and focused. Then suddenly he opened his eyes and put both his arms out straight and shot a blast of red energy at the Red Shroud who jumped out of the way. Michael opened his eyes again and the first sight that beheld him was a red fist that hit him in the face again. Again, the Red Shroud jumped away.

"Interesting, I see you know how to do it. But you don't know how to control it. Control is heart and soul. Focus with your eyes open... not closed."

Michael tried it so much and he shot again, but it wasn't as strong as the first. The Red Shroud observed Michael's energy blasts carefully and ordered "Again." Drenacle stayed where he was, watching the progress.

"Do it again... again... again." The Red Shroud repeated over and over again, getting more frustrated after each time. Michael was getting more tired, until he did it one last time, looked at the Red Shroud, blasted a giant red energy blast at him with both his hands, then he fell to the ground in weakness.

"Excellent... yet it's disappointing... once more my apprentice." He said. Michael was worn out so much, but he looked up while on all fours, and gradually got to his feet.

"One more time T.E.O." The Red Shroud said. Michael focused one last time and then blasted again. It wasn't as strong as the one before it but effective enough to impress the Red Shroud.

"Perfect my apprentice. That's enough for this morning. There will be more training this afternoon... Go rest, you'll need it."

Michael did as his master advised and went back inside and back to bed. Both Drenacle and Liam helped Michael stay on his and make it to his bed. While he rested, Drenacle stayed with the Red Shroud and his men in the throne room. They spoke and Adma eavesdropped while she lay in front of the Red Shroud. She noticed Drenacle look at her every once in a while.

"The boy's brave but weak. He won't survive long if he can't even hit me," said The Red Shroud.

"Just to let you know, he knows your servant girl."

The Red Shroud looked from Adma up at Drenacle. Her eyes followed his. The Red Shroud told her to move to the side and he took Drenacle to have a more private conversation.

"What? How does he know her? Does he care about her at all?" He asked Drenacle.

"Yes, a lot. They were separated from the Shadow and-"

"Pirates attacked the Shadow and brought her here as a gift to me." The Red Shroud answered in a low voice, interrupting Drenacle.

"So that's what happened... wait? How do you know that?"

"That's not worth worrying about right now Drenacle. All I can say is that a pirate by the name of Yeko Grond delivered her to me and I paid a fair deal for her so if you're thinking of buying her from me; no deal whatsoever."

Drenacle knew that name and knew that 'Redempter' was very dangerous. His presence was still in The Red Shroud and he left the Red Shroud to return to his business in the throne room.

Later, Michael was in his room recovering after his first training session when the most unexpected person came to see him.

"Hey Michael, how're you doing?" The person asked. Michael looked up at the most familiar and wonderful voice he had missed so much.

"I'm alright... I got hit pretty hard." Michael answered shakily, holding a cloth over his bleeding mouth. Adma sat down next to him. Michael's heart was racing so fast with the Adma looking so hot (for all the wrong reasons) and being so close to him.

"Let me see that." She said, putting her hand on the cloth trying to remove it and see the damage. Michael's mouth stung as she did.

"Ur. That stings. So how'd you end up here anyway?" He asked her.

"After you disappeared, we thought we'd never see you again. I was in one of the hangers when the pirates attacked the ship. I was heading for the lower levels before they caught me and took me. I was brought here for a price. I've been serving the Red Shroud for about three days now; not enjoyable at all as you saw yourself. What happened to you?" She asked. Michael was happy to tell her his story.

"I guess I got lucky. Drenacle so called 'saved me' from me being murdered. Apparently I'm a wanted man along with the Shadow."

Adma took her hand off the cloth and looked away. Michael looked at her still before asking, "What's wrong?"

"I just... don't want to be the Red Shroud's... servant for the rest of my life, and well, I can't get out of this. Now we're both in his servitude."

Michael put his arm around her back. She looked back at him before jumping on him and hugging him so hard he almost couldn't breathe. This made Michael kind of uncomfortable from her not wearing much clothing, but still liked it a lot. Coming back to his senses of the wonderful uncomfortable feeling of having the girl of his dreams hugging him in a red dress with a bikini under it, he said, "Hey, I promise you, you'll leave with me when this is over. You... you should go before you get caught here." advising her and making sure she didn't get in trouble. Adma left his arms and walked out. Before she was out of sight she looked back at him and blew him a kiss. Michael then said, "I swear," and then she was out of sight. He lied back down on the bed and went to sleep for a couple of hours until he woke up at midday and had lunch. Making his way up to the throne room, he could smell the delicious taste. His eyes proved something else once he had arrived. The food looked quite gross as it was some sort of cooked meat from an animal and vegetables. He sat down with Drenacle and the others. The Red Shroud though did not join them. He remained on the couch with Adma and had her feed him the food. Michael ignored them and tasted the food. It was delicious.

After lunch, Michael enjoyed himself in the throne room as The Red Shroud did his normal business of being entertained by Adma and his band. Half way through the second song, they were interrupted by an arrival. They looked quite young, dressed in a dark green short coat and light blue jean pants. Adma returned to her place on the Red Shroud's couch. As the man got closer, Michael got a better look at him. He had long blonde hair and held a helmet at his waist. His red eyes focused on Adma more than the Red Shroud himself. Liam went to the Red Shroud's side and whispered something into his ear. Seconds later the Red Shroud looked to this man.

"So you say there were complications on the mission I sent you on Nemrok."

Nemrok looked scared; his face flustered. He knew where this was going.

"I'm sorry Your Excellency. I had a few complications and I didn't get the data you wanted. I-"

The Red Shroud silenced him there and the whole room fell silent with it. Adma kept looking from Nemrok to the Red Shroud as he stroked her back. He called his guards and they grabbed his arms. Nemrok panicked.

"What are you doing?"

The Red Shroud laughed.

"You have failed me and the punishment for a continuous failure is death. Take him away."

The guard escorted Nemrok out of the throne room. He yelled for redemption but the Red Shroud ignored his pleas. The day continued with the music playing again. The Red Shroud left Adma alone. Michael liked that.

**Chapter 14**

**The Final Test**

That afternoon, Michael's second training session was about to take place. He headed back to the arena where he got a bigger surprise than he had expected. He got to the doors of the entrance of the arena and waited for it automatically open, but for some reason it did not. He stood there; patient as he was, wondering why they weren't letting him in.

"_The Red Shroud specifically told me to come here and meet him in the arena in the afternoon. Maybe I heard wrong... no I know I didn't."_ Michael thought to himself, like he was crazy for having a conversation with himself in his head.Finally the doors opened and the first thing he heard was the Red Shroud yelling "Lord T.E.O!" and a crowd all around the arena cheering as he entered. He walked into the circle of the arena and caught the sight of the Red Shroud standing in front of the couch, Adma; the only one lying on it, Drenacle on the left side of it and Liam on the right. Two guards stood at the door behind it, making sure no one got to them. Ten metres above all of them was a hooded figure hiding that none of them had noticed except for Michael. He didn't think that person was anything to worry about and worried more about what was in stored for him.

"Welcome to the second session of Lord T.E.O's training and for him to prove himself worthy against me!" The Red Shroud yelled over the cheering crowd. Michael expected for the Red Shroud to then jump down and land on the arena floor opposite him. Instead the doors on the opposite end opened and a familiar figure walked in, pushed by a couple of guards.

"Have you ever ended up in a fight young T.E.O?" The Red Shroud asked over the crowd, now quiet and ready to see a great fight.

"Ah no… master." Michael replied. Even now, Nemrok, standing metres away from Michael pleaded to be freed, and still the Red Shroud took no notice. Michael was afraid of this. He would have to kill this failure of the Red Shroud to prove his worth. He was soon correct.

"For your second training session you must kill this man Evil One."

The crowd cheered as soon as that was said. Michael did not know who was worse; the Red Shroud or the crowd. Michael turned to the Red Shroud and spoke out against his order.

"I will not kill this man for your delight Red Shroud."

Drenacle did not like this one bit. He knew what the Red Shroud was capable of as did Liam.

"Alright, if you won't, I will." He said. He jumped down just as Michael had earlier predicted. The Red Shroud's guards were surprised by this move. He put his hand out at Nemrok and shot a blast of energy, identical to Michael's straight through Nemrok's stomach. His dark blue, almost black blood went everywhere and Michael almost spewed over how much blood there was. He heard Adma gasp and she looked down at Michael. He was surely next.

"Now that's out of the way, here we go then… hit me, and not with your blast shots. No, this time with hand to hand combat."

He gave Michael the sign to fight him. Michael saw the sign and ran at his master, threw his right fist at him, but the Red Shroud jumped out of the way, making Michael miss.

"Come on, you have to try better than that my apprentice." The Red Shroud remarked. "Try again, and really focus not only on punching me but something that would stop me from getting away. Come on, hit me."

He gave Michael the same sign so Michael tried again and failed once more.

"Go again!" He shouted, but Michael just stood there.

"So you just give up. Ha! I knew you weren't ready boy." The Red Shroud laughed.

"I'm not giving up, I'm being patient. There's nothing I can do so I'm waiting for-"

Just then the Red Shroud went up behind Michael and went to punch. To everyone and his own surprise, he missed.

"What?" Both Michael's master and Drenacle said almost at the same time, amazed that Michael dodged the punch.

"You were saying… Ah!"

The Red Shroud punched Michael right in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Get up, come on get up!" The Red Shroud yelled. But Michael just laid there.

"I knew you were weak. You know little of patience and for that, this is over. Guards… take him to the ward…" He said in disappointment. Two guards came, picked Michael up and carried him to the ward. Adma watched in the fear of Michael; her last chance of being saved and who she oddly cared about so dearly in these awful times. She was afraid of him not being alright and almost dead from a punch like that. The Red Shroud jumped back up and met with Adma and the others with both an evil and disappointed look on his face. He gave Adma a look of knowing she was going to be his forever.

"Ridiculous! If I didn't have leverage over him this would be over Drenacle." He said, looking from him to Adma. The Red Shroud whispered something in Drenacle's ear, which made him begin to grin.

"That's genius. What if it backfires?"

"Then that's his choice whether that happens or not."

Michael lied in the ward wondering how he was going to get Adma out of this mess and at least beat the Red Shroud. The ward had a lot of rows of beds and the walls and floor were all metal. The bed he was in was exactly like the one in the bedroom chamber. After about half an hour, something finally clicked to him. All he had to do was make a bet with the Red Shroud, have enough determination to not give up, beating his master before the end. This was genius. He had to impress the Red Shroud so much that he gives Adma back in a deal.

"But how do I do that? He's much stronger and faster than me. Oh, I'm so sorry Adma."

"Sorry for what?" Adma asked, walking in and catching Michael red handed. He hesitated before answering.

"Umm... ah... for..."

"Well spit it out already." She pushed him on to get it out, sounding a little flirty also.

"For... getting you in this mess really... and asking you to come into space on the ship in the first place."

Adma smirked and sat down on the side of his bed ward.

"Oh Michael, this adventure is the best thing you could have invited me to be a part of. I know this part is really unenjoyable but I'm glad I'm here with you nonetheless."

She blushed and Michael smiled gladly at what she said.

"What is with this change of heart? I'm just wondering." Michael asked next. Adma looked away as she spoke, looking as though she was talking to the far wall.

"I didn't like you lately, going on about that whole fate thing... but I began saw another side of you, got to know you better. I remember the way you used to be back in year 7."

"Really... only if everyone else was here to see this... see me fight and be able to shoot red energy." Michael replied, changing the subject. He knew the question he wanted to ask, but he thought to leave it until a better time.

"Yeah and only if I wasn't the Red Shroud's servant and I was in my other clothes." Adma replied back grimly. "I'm happy your back… It doesn't mean that I really like you, that way, just that I'm glad your fine."

"True to say Adma, you still look great." Michael complimented. They both laughed. The Red Shroud walked in.

"Am I interrupting?" He asked.

"No. Adma was just seeing how I am. What is it?"

Adma walked out and left them to their meeting. She had overstood her stay anyway. Michael watched her walk out as the Red Shroud walked in.

"Are you ready for the final part of your training?"

Michael wondered what he was going to have in stored for him now. Fighting the Red Shroud again would never get him anywhere, so it was a wonder.

"Yes I am, Master." He replied, sitting up, though he still felt weak.

"Excellent. Be ready by tomorrow morning Lord T.E.O. I'll be waiting, as will she"

The Red Shroud and Michael was alone again in the ward with only his thoughts and wonder of what he was going to do to beat the Red Shroud and impress Adma at the same time. He lied back down and thought back to his moment with Adma. Was this what he had hoped for? He soon fell asleep, resting for his third and hopefully last time in the arena.

The next morning Michael felt stronger than he had in the past two days. That was a promising sign. He headed up to the throne room, expecting to have the Red Shroud and Drenacle waiting for him. That. It completely deserted. Confused, he headed to the entrance door of the arena and waited for it to open. In that time he had a few seconds to think to himself before the doors opened up and he was introduced. The crowd cheered him on as he walked forward waving to the crowd all around him.

"Welcome to the third and final training session. Now the infamous Lord T.E.O, apprentice of yours truly; the Red Shroud myself, will have the challenge to see if he can survive in five rounds of death!" The Red Shroud anounced. The crowd cheered even more. As for Michael though, he was not so happy about what he had just heard. The Red Shroud continued.

"Lord T.E.O will fight through a series of waves of men and one final boss. If successful, he'll get to leave here alive and have my ultimate gratitude and respect. But if he doesn't, then he and my servant girl, Adma here will be mine forever! Begin!"

Michael did not like this one bit and was scared to death. His feelings got worse when the caged doors at each corner of the arena opened, letting out the Red Shrouds men. Adma watched intently as both she and Michael were aware of what fate they were about to endure if they failed.

"Oh geez. Okay focus, focus, focus!" Michael kept telliing himself, trying to feel his potential and determination. The Red Shrouds men ran at Michael and he jumped out of their way, ending up behind them. He shot them in the back with several blasts of red energy. The crowd cheered so loudly. Michael looked up at Adma who was watching him, and winked at her which made her blush. He looked back down, ready for the next round. Now he was beginning to enjoy this.

"Wow, Lord T.E.O survives round one. But it's not over yet!" The Red Shroud yelled and then continued with, "Begin with round two." Michael was ready. The caged doors opened again, letting out the same men; five coming out of each door, but this time they had red energy swords.

"Here we go!" Michael yelled. He drew a smile across his face and ran at the men, shooting them with his red energy blasts. Unfortunately they blocked it with their swords. Michael had to come up with a plan B.

"This will be interesting," The Red Shroud said to Drenacle. Drenacle was watching Michael closely.

"Yeah it will be." He replied, agreeing with the Red Shroud. In the arena, Michael was running out of ideas. Every time he blasted at them, they just dodged or blocked his attacks, and if he went anywhere near them, they swung at him, forcing him to dodge the swings of their swords. The more he did, the more he started to get tired which was not helping either.

"Cant… give… up… must …do it… for…her." Michael whispered in a very weak voice, while on all fours. The men surrounded him. A very worried look came across Adma's face as she saw the most terrifying sight of Michael coming close to death.

"Oh, I guess he wasn't ready!" The Red Shroud laughed. Then the Red Shroud's men were on top of Michael. It looked to be over before the strangest thing happened. The circle of men was thrown back by something supernatural. A dark cloud covered Michael. All that could be seen through this dark cloud were two bright light grey eyes. The crowd started murmuring to each other. They knew this was not right.

"What's going on? I never planned this!" The Red Shroud yelled, completely overwhelmed by this unknown occurrence. He jumped down into the arena and faced the cloud that had covered Michael.

"It's just me and you. I have the ultimate power and you're going down for doing this... all that you have done!" The cloud yelled. A strong force wind came from it, hitting the Red Shroud into the outside wall of the arena. He fell off and hit the ground on his stomach.

"Who, are you?" The Red Shroud asked, getting to his feet.

"I am The Evil One. Michael is the Evil One and you are going down for trying to kill us!" The shadow yelled. Everyone watched as the Evil One rampaged at the Red Shroud in the arena. He looked helpless against this new force. Drenacle's eyes widened as he watched.

"None of this makes sense. The Evil One can't be Michael. There's just no way. We have to stop him before he hurts some- Adma?"

Drenacle realised Adma had gone. She went down to the arena floor. The Red Shroud was again sent into the wall. Adma ran in between the Evil One and the Red Shroud.

"Adma, what are you doing? It's too dangerous. Stay away from him!" Drenacle yelled down to her once he saw her in the arena.

"He's not himself!" Adma yelled back as she got closer to the Evil One. Drenacle jumped down to try and stop her but it was too late. The force wind hit Drenacle into the wall as well, stopping him from interfering.

"What do we have here?" The voice said.

"Adma...? No, stop this… I will not hurt her," Michael's voice yelled through The Evil One He was somewhat in control, but it had too much control over Michael and started to walk towards Adma.

"I see love in you Michael, you won't hurt her... I see that. But can you stop me, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

The Evil One went up to Adma, grabbed her by the neck and threw her straight into the wall. But something happened. She didn't hit the wall. Drenacle grabbed her just in time... so he thought, but soon noticed it wasn't him that saved her.

"What? How? That's impossible!" The Evil One said.

"No it's not. I have strength in me and you'll never know what that is." Michael said as he tried his best to fight the Evil One or at least take control of it. But the Evil One was too much for him.

"No! No you can't defeat me; Never!"

There was a giant explosion inside the arena and everyone inside it was blown back. The cloud from the explosion slowly disappeared and it all went quiet. Drenacle looked around and saw Michael lying on the ground. He was knocked out and badly hurt. The Red Shroud ran up and picked him up himself. The crowd was silent. They knew this wasn't supposed to happen.

"How is he?" Drenacle asked as he re-joined the Red Shroud.

"He's still alive, but very weak. Whatever that was, it took a lot out of him."

Michael opened his eyes weakly and whispered two words.

"Where... is Adma?"

Drenacle looked to where Adma had stood saw that she had disappeared. She was not in the arena or anywhere. Before Michael passed out he noticed the same hooded figure he saw at the start. They looked to be made of ice by the look of their ice type hand carrying someone away at the top of the arena.

He awoke in the ward. Drenacle was sitting next to his bed.

"Hey you're awake."

"Yeah, what happened? All I remember is some Evil One in me and then... ADMA! Where is she? Is she alright?" Michael gasped, sitting up quickly. Drenacle got him to stay calm. The next news was not good news. Drenacle took a while to answer. He could not bear to Michael that he may have killed his one love.

"Michael. Adma... kind of... went missing."

Michael's quickened rate heart began to fade. He could not believe what he had just heard.

"What do you mean? Wasn't she in the arena? Couldn't you find her?"

"Michael, listen to me. We checked everywhere in The Red Shroud. She's not here. It's been a week."

Michael heard the most impossible and heart breaking thing ever. First, his one love missing or even worse; supposably dead, and now he has been unconscious for a week? This was the worst thing that had ever happened in his life.

"I'm sorry Michael. I'm so sorry."

Michael began to burst into tears. Drenacle comforted him as best he could.

"She may still be alive, but I'm not sure if she is though. We'll leave tomorrow if you want. I know you never liked this place. It's your choice though."

"I'll, think... about it." Michael replied, sobbing.

**Chapter 15**

**Never Judge a Book by Its Cover**

Days passed and Michael stayed at The Red Shroud, mourning after Adma's possible death. The day after Adma's disappearance, rumours spread of the Evil One's presence in Mestroplosia. Not only that, Yeko Grond had left The Red Shroud also. A part of Michael wanted to leave as well, but he could not face his friends after such a thing as this. The fear of him being the cause of her death strengthened this feeling. He wondered mostly of what he would tell the Fellas and the others, if he would tell them at all. How could he tell them he was responsible for Adma's death? Not to mention being a risk to all of them. This was the least of his worries. He sat at the table as he silently watched the Red Shroud's doings. No one in the room acknowledged his existence. That afternoon, a stranger turned up to the Red Shroud.

"You're Excellency; A Mr Frank Hultz has come to see you." Liam informed the Red Shroud. He did not whisper this message to him. Instead he informed him in front of the audience in the room.

"What did you tell him?"

"To wait until he was permitted my liege." Liam proclaimed.

"Good." The Red Shroud replied. Michael put his head up from looking down at the large red table and watched this ice covered man walk in. His whole body looked to be made completely out of ice with the colour of blue and white. He had blue eyes, spiky white hair and wore a dark blue hooded cloak over his torso, dark grey, almost black pants and shoes that matched the colour of his cloak.

"Ah, the Red Shroud, I wanted to see you."

"Who are you?" The Red Shroud asked at once. The man was not afraid to answer.

"I hear that the infamous Lord T.E.O is here."

Michael's heart began to race and Drenacle told him to stay in his seat. He did not trust this shifty looking new arrival as much as the next person. His voice sounded kind of words, though his face told otherwise.

"What's it to you?" Michael said out loud, getting up from his seat and coming out of the darkness. The man introduced himself as Frank Hultz and told his reason for coming here before the Red Shroud spoke next.

"Mr Hultz, I'd like you to meet the legendary T.E.O." He said. Hultz looked at him in disbelief.

"You think I'm going to fight a teenage boy? This is ridiculous. There is no way he is the Evil One." Hultz replied, almost smirking. The aliens around weren't laughing with him; they knew that this boy was not weak at all and had a power like none other.

"I'll fight you, and beat you too. Then we'll see who the fool is! Like they say; never judge a book by its cover."

The smirk was withdrawn and seriousness came across the crystal ice creatures eyes. He stared into Michael's to see if this was a joke, but saw no fear of possible death or any type of fear. This boy spoke true.

"Fine then, Lord T.E.O. I'll meet you in the arena tonight... it will be your loss."

"I'll be there." Michael replied. He then returned to his seat in the darkness. Frank Hultz could not believe this turn of events. He was about to fight a boy who looked as weak as anything. Even more, he just agreed to a fight like none other. He joined the Red Shroud and Drenacle Michael left the room.

"He's a fool Shroud. He won't survive a second fighting me."

"You never know Hultz. The Red Shroud's apprentice has proven to be a strong ally to me. He has been trained well and you'll be in for the ride of your life." Drenacle said. He gave Hultz a strange look.

"Have we met?"

Hultz did not know Drenacle and they acquainted each other. He then brought up a conversation of this 'apprentice of the Red Shroud. A little bit of fear passed through him but then he pulled himself together.

"You're... you're apprentice? He's been trained by you? What is he like your son?"

"No." The Red Shroud replied.

"You're cousin?"

"No."

"Nephew, friend, friend's relative?"

"He's none of those things Mr Hultz. I just made a bargain with him and got something in return."

Hultz was confused and a little worried but did his best not to show it. He had taken on someone as strong as the Red Shroud and beaten them. Though he knew the Red Shroud; devious and cunning. His apprentice would surely have these qualities.

"_I guess that boy was right; 'Never judge a book by its cover."_

Michael spent his time all day practicing and getting ready for his battle with Hultz in the arena. He used the Red Shrouds men as targets for his accuracy of physical fighting and blasting the red energy as well. Drenacle came to see him.

"Hey Michael..?" He began. Michael turned and almost shot at Drenacle. He told the Red Shroud's men to stop for now.

"What is it Drenacle?" Michael asked.

"You look to be doing very well. I just wanted you to know I'm sorry about Adma. I know how much she meant to you."

Michael put his head down and said nothing.

"Don't be like this Michael. Don't do this. Don't fight him. I know what he's kind is capable of and-"

"Look. I'm not doing this just to die and end up with Adma. Trust me, I need to do this." Michael interrupted angrily. Drenacle tried to get through to him, but nothing worked.

"Listen, I feel I have to do this to know something. If I die tonight, I'm not meant for what my fate has in stored for me. If I survive, I will know, okay?" Michael replied, becoming frustrated now. Drenacle let him be and trusted what Michael was hoping for. He just hoped the Michael was bargaining more than he could withstand. He returned to the throne room. Michael continued his last hours of training. He skipped lunch and soon it was the afternoon; only a few hours away of the biggest fight ever and Michael had more on his mind then just that. He concentrated more of getting his moves down right. This would be his debt to Adma; to do this for her and never to forget her after such a terrible thing he'd done. As night drew closer Drenacle returned with some food. Michael ate and strengthened himself. While Michael ate Drenacle had time to talk with him.

"Make sure you don't lose focus. Don't underestimate your opponent." He coached. Michael's anxiety and fear began to get to him and the thought of never seeing his friends again came with it.

_"What if this is my ultimate fate or choice destroys it along with me? No Michael, stop worrying. You're doing this for her. For Adma... don't back out now. Come on, no fear, no fear."_ Michael confidently thought to himself over and over every time his fears of what could be, got to him. He looked at his watch and saw the time was 5:11 PM. A crowd began to form around the arena and muttered to each other as the more anxious he became. Finally 6:00 came around and the sun had set... show time. The Red Shroud stood at the top of the arena at the top of his balcony and looked around at the crowd before announcing, "Welcome my friends. Today we have a very entertaining fight for you all… Lord T.E.O vs. Frank Hultz!" He said as he introduced both Michael (Lord T.E.O) and Frank Hultz. The crowd cheered very loudly.

"This is a fight to the death!" he continued. Michael's heart started racing as soon he heard that.

"Here we go. This should be easy." Frank Hultz said quietly, so only he could hear. The Red Shroud ordered for the fight to begin and Hultz made the first move. He ran at Michael and tried to punch him, but Michael dodged it by jumping out of the way, turned around and shot a blast at Hultz. But to his surprise, Frank dodged that and kicked Michael in the gut, sending him flying just above the ground and landing on the other side of the arena on his feet.

"You're going to have to do better than that." Michael said in a teasing tone that aggravated Hultz and started round two. Hultz and Michael both ran at each other, meeting in the centre of the arena where they just threw punches and kicks at each other. The Red Shroud was getting bored of this. He put his hand up to signal the caged doors under the audience to open. Michael and Hultz' concentration on each other was broken and turned onto the Red Shroud's men whom sprinted out and surrounded them. Some with laser guns, others with long tridents or sharp handheld weapons and the rest used nothing but their fists. The two had no chance of defeating them all easily.

"We must work together to defeat them Hultz." Michael said, thinking smart. But Hultz did not listen. He knew he had the better advantage. All he did was punched, kicked and froze the men with his ice ability. Michael was impressed. He joined in and kept to his idea, helping Frank Hultz in defeating these new enemies.

"What are you doing? Stop helping me boy! I can take them myself!" He yelled at Michael. Michael didn't listen as Frank had done to him. Soon the men became too many and over threw Hultz. Still he remained undeterred and kept fighting on. Michael watched Hultz beat down his enemies with no remorse; not sparing a single soldier. Soon none stood at all.

"Where were we?" He said once he grabbed the last living soldier's head and beat it into the ground. He then turned back to Michael who stood there frozen with disbelief.

"Ah that's right. You put up a hard fight, but you can never kill me boy."

"That's likewise Frank. Or should I say, Franky." Michael replied, mocking him which aggravated Hultz. He was so mad he gained back his strength and went as far as pulling sharp deadly shards of ice off of his very body and throwing them at Michael. Now only concentrating on killing Lord T.E.O, Frank Hultz made one mistake... Michael had a power that could blast his ice into pieces. Michael stood at the other end, blocking the ice shards before shooting back at Frank Hultz. One lucky shot sent Hultz into the wall and forced him to be stuck there.

"It's over Frank Hultz. Now tell me, why are you after me?" Michael asked him. Frank Hultz didn't answer. The crowd watched as they saw an evil, vengeful side of Michael.

"ANSWER ME! There's no coincidence that-"

Suddenly Michael began to remember back to what happened days before. The ice skinned stranger... the person he was carrying... Adma! He immediately changed the subject.

"Where is she?"

"Who are you talking about?" Hultz replied. He was unsure of whom Michael was referring to. Michael put his left arm up to Frank Hultz's face.

"I'll do it if you don't tell me Hultz! I'll blow your head to kingdom come if you don't tell me, where's Adma?"

The Red Shroud came down and pulled Michael away from Frank Hultz, freeing him. Michael then went to have another go at Frank before Drenacle intervened and grabbed him just in time.

"Michael no... He's not worth it. What is with you?" Drenacle whispered in his ear. Michael looked at him, then to the Red Shroud and Hultz as his rage returned.

"He took her Drenacle. I saw him before I passed out." Michael whispered back.

"Okay. Promise me this, if I let you go, you'll walk away."

Michael took a while before giving in. He eventually agreed once Drenacle promised him he would find out the truth. He let go of Michael and they all watched him walk off through the doors and into the darkness. Drenacle kept up his end of the deal and tried to sort out the mess. The Red Shroud announced that the battle was over. No one had one... for now. They returned to the throne room, alone to figure things out. Once there Drenacle asked Hultz if he knew anything of the girl that had gone missing.

"No. That's what I've been trying to say. What happened anyway?" He asked. The Red Shroud told Hultz everything and Drenacle let to tell Michael what he had found out from Hultz. He found Michael lying on his bed in the bedroom. It bothered him too much. Drenacle came in to see him and Michael sat up as soon as he heard Drenacle, hoping for good news.

"Did he tell you where she is?"

Drenacle looked at Michael. He did not look happy and Michael knew then that the news was not good.

"He said that he didn't know anything about it. You may have just been seeing things; you looked really hurt after that explosion."

Michael's hope began to fade and he couldn't think straight. Every time he tried to remember what he saw, he only saw a black shade of where a memory used to be.

"Where is he? Where's Frank Hultz?"

"He left. He was furious for being accused of such a thing. I know him well and he would never do something like steal someone. If he did, I would've seen him myself." The Red Shroud said, walking in at that point. "You should just go. Your training is complete." He finished. Rain started to pour as Michael, Drenacle and his men left The Red Shroud. Liam watched from the entrance as they all got into the vehicle and returned to the penthouse after the busy tiring days of hell. Michael said nothing the whole way back. He thought about nothing but his last time with Adma; what he said, what she said and his promise. He said he would free her. He did, but not in the way he wanted. Now that he thought about it, he question if it was the only way to free her.

"Are you alright Michael?" Keisha asked him.

"He's had a hard day Keisha. Let him be for the moment." Drenacle told her. He knew that Michael been through a lot. Michael needed his space for the time being. As he opened the penthouse door, he felt some sort of unknown hope begin to return into his heart. He felt like he had seen Adma and she saw him. He felt like she was in the same room as him. He just stood there for a couple of seconds inside the dark penthouse until Drenacle turned the light on at the doorway behind him. Michael looked around the room for Adma, but there was nothing. Drenacle came up behind him and told him to go to bed. Michael did as he was asked and made his way up the stairs and into his room, closing the door behind him. He dropped off to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The Shadow had finally turned up at Mestroplosia. The Star Ship Resavolar entered the atmosphere and the guys and girls, stationed on the bridge, got their first glimpse of this spectacular city. The tall metal buildings towered the skies and covered any sign of the dark streets below. There looked to be none as the many vehicles flew through the air between the buildings. The ship landed on a large, flat platform that hovered in the air. Sam Numa, Buhn Hido and everyone got outside onto the metal based top. There was a small, silver, rectangular looking vehicle awaiting their arrival.

"Whoa this is cool as. Hey guys, I wonder how long it would've taken them to build these." Andrew said.

"Take a guess Andrew. Go on."

Andrew thought for a bit as they walked to the transport ship. It had glass windows along the sides and was parked on the side of the platform. A humanoid robot came out of it to greet them. It was a shiny black colour and had robotic human body parts with circle yellow eyes.

"Welcome to Mestroplosia. My name is Ratchet. Where is your destination to?"

These words only made sense to Buhn and Sam. The rest were confused of what the robot was asking them.

"Have you heard of the Threshold hotel?" Sam asked him.

"Yes, yes of course. Most tourists I get have that hotel as their first choice." He said. "That'll be 50... Each."

"What? Okay then, here you go. That's for all of us." Buhn said, giving the robot a couple of small circle paper money. The robot collected it without counting it and invited them all onto the ship.

"That's weird." Kurt said.

"What is?" Peter asked him.

"That robot didn't even look at the money to see if Buhn payed the right amount, which should've been more than I can count."

"That's because he did pay the correct amount." Ratchet said, listening to their conversation as they entered the transport. "I've been programmed to just know if someone is honest and respectable or not."

"Cool. Alright then so if you asked me-"

"25." Ratchet interrupted.

"Yeah and someone-"

"25." Ratchet repeated again. Kurt looked at him funny. Ratchet repeated it once more so Kurt gave him $20 Earth money, accepted on this planet, and kept a straight face.

"$5…" Ratchet said straight after Kurt gave it to him.

"Excuse me?"

"What about the $5?" He asked Kurt again. Kurt found this fun.

"Alright, what if-"

"Kurt, stop annoying Ratchet. Anyway, we're here."

The transport ship had landed out the front of the Threshold hotel and everyone part of the Shadow left the ship, walked into the hotel and up to the front desk. A woman of fiery skin colour with _'Lyn'_ on the nametag on her work shirt greeted them.

"May I help you?" She asked, looking at the large group over her desk.

"Yes. We got a transmission from this hotel from some unknown caller."

Lyn gave them a serious look and then turned her eyes back down to the paper on the desk in front of her.

"This isn't a complaint is it? If it is then this is the third one this week. Although if you've come to handle the problem; then 14th floor, door 164. Here, here are the keys. Please bring them back." She said, handing Sam a pair of grey keys on a key ring. Buhn grabbed them out of his hand and ran off into the elevator on the left side of the room, heading up to the 14th floor. Everyone stared in amazement.

"Like I said, could you bring them back?" She repeated, sounding more serious.

"Stop worrying... wait, you look like someone I know. Do you at all know Pyroth?"

Lyn stared back in confusion.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't. Shouldn't you be going after your friend?"

"Yes. Yes I should." Sam replied before running up the flight of stairs and out of sight. The others followed him except for one person; Andrew, who stayed and kept Lyn, unwanted company.

"So Lyn, where are you from." He asked politely, sounding curious and acting like a ladies' man. Lyn looked up at him.

"Where you're headed to after you realise you're too late. He was here and I sent that message to you lot so you'd find each other. I'm the missing link of the fallen puzzle, the piece of cake you leave behind and don't eat."

Andrew was left confused of what this young woman was going on about.

"You and my friend would really hit it off with your codes needing to be broken." He joked.

"By the way, is the name of this friend of yours Michael?"

Andrew came to his senses and realised what she had just said.

"_Michael? How would she guess that name straight away? Coincidence I would say. Unless..."_ He thought to himself. "What makes you..?" He paused. She was gone and all that was left was an empty seat at the desk. Andrew ran up the flight of stairs one after the next until he finally made it to the 14th floor and met up with the rest of the group.

"Hey I found out... what'd you find?"

Buhn walked out of the penthouse with Adma's hooded pink jumper and Michael's black cloak in his arms.

"They were here, along with this letter." Sam said, holding a letter in his right hand. Andrew walked up and snatched it out of his hand, reading it.

"That women at the desk in the lobby... she was the one who contacted us and-"

"What? How do you know this Andrew?" Buhn asked, interrupting Andrew before he could finish.

"I was talking to her, well charming her really, and well, I asked her where she was from and-"

"Get to the point already." Sam interrupted. So Andrew did.

"She said something about us being too late and her being the missing link to a cake or something. Then she disappeared."

"Did you get her name?"

"Her name's Lyn or something I think, why?"

Sam turned to Buhn and got him and everyone to follow him back to the lobby. He ran up to the service desk, hoping to find Lyn but found someone else.

"May I help you?" A female asked. She was wearing the same clothes as Lyn, had a long green pony tail the same colour as her olive skin hanging down the back of her head and had a name tag with 'Hurcret' on it. She waited for Sam to answer.

"Yes, I'm ah looking for Lyn." He finally answered.

"Lyn..? Sorry, there is no Lyn that works here."

Sam became confused. He didn't understand this at all and didn't even think to realise the obviousness that clouded him.

"Sam, maybe she never worked here or she gave me a... wait how could she have given me a fake name when it said 'Lyn' on her nametag?"

The group was left confused but decided to accommodate in the room 164 penthouse while they figured out what to do next.

**Chapter 16**

**Forever and Always**

On Drenacle's ship, he, his men along with Michael and an extra passenger headed to their final destination...Firaciend. Michael and their new addition sat in the seats of the front cockpit of the ship, watching the several stars pass the front window. Michael was very happy and his troubles at The Red Shroud had finally ceased.

"I'm so happy we're almost there Michael. I've got a bit sick of being in space so long. I can't wait to see it." Adma said, sitting in the chair opposite Michael. This was Michael's heaven, but until they got to Firaciend, he knew they were still possibly in danger.

"Me too... I can't believe you were in the penthouse. I'm sorry I exploded... I thought I possibly killed you." Michael replied. He took this sudden love for him as something in the making. No suspicion over came him.

"By the way, Drenacle was saying you were worrying your head off that you killed me. That's kind of sweet." Adma added. Michael blushed as she continued. "I can't believe you had that much power. To tell you the truth I don't know how I ended up under a sheet on the couch in the first place. All I remember is the giant explosion and then being woken up by Drenacle in the penthouse wearing my old clothes and having the Red Shroud's servant dress put away in the wardrobe. I should be the one to say sorry. I shouldn't have got that close but-"

Michael stopped her from saying any more and told her that it was over. She was safe and free from the Red Shroud. That was all that mattered for the time being. She then got up and went in to the bed in the other room and got some well earned sleep. Michael watched her, happier than he ever had been in his entire life. Only if the Fellas could see that he finally got the girl of his dreams. It was perfect. After two years he had finally got her back as the most special person ever that he would never let go of.

"She's so great." Michael said. Keisha spoke before Drenacle got the chance to reply.

"Yeah, I see why you like her Michael. You two make a great couple" She said. Michael was happy to hear that compliment. Michael stayed up the whole time, thinking of what his life had in store for him at his new home planet. Was he going to become king or the leader of the planet? Was Adma going to end up with him in the end and live happily ever after? Many of these questions were of unanswerableness to him, but he still thought about them anyway. The one thing that did not cross his mind was his friends; the Fellas, Girls, his brother and the other two guys; Tony and Barry, and whether he would ever see them again. Drenacle then talked to Michael, but not in the control room. He led Michael to a secret room that was completely white. It was a small box. Michael looked around the tiny room.

"This is a training simulation." Drenacle said. Michael was a little confused. Suddenly the room turned into a replica of the Red Shroud's arena. This phenomenon just confused him further. He figured it was just like a computer simulation. Drenacle jumped to the other side of the empty arena just like the Red Shroud did when he was training Michael. Michael on the other hand didn't move, fearing that he would crash into invisible walls that were spaced a couple of metres away from him. He then realised Drenacle had jumped to the other side.

"It must be fine." He told himself. Drenacle answered his comment before continuing with the reason for bringing Michael there.

"Alright then, I'm going to teach you something very special and useful when having to be quiet and sneaky... shadow."

Michael got all excited but still maturely kept his cool and didn't flip out with excitement.

"Awesome! I mean, okay then. But how can I? I'm only human and can't do that."

Drenacle made Michael focus.

"You don't know how to do it but I know you can. Okay, now focus all your energy."

Michael did as he said. He focused all of his energy and began to feel a strange sensation. Suddenly a dark shadow began to form around him and he felt darkness. He panicked at first, thinking that the Evil One was taking control of him again. Drenacle saw his fear and told him to stay calm. Michael looked around in this shadow formed around him. The arena became a different colour, like he could go through the walls, floor and everything. He could see really far and he felt like he was a ghost; being able to see through walls. It got even better.

"Michael, you have now absorbed the dark energy but still listen to me. You need to learn to control it."

Michael began to sink into the ground just before Drenacle grabbed him in time and pulled him back up to safety. The shadow went away and Michael was just standing there in his human and original form, as explained by Drenacle.

"The shadow is the greatest power to behold, yet it is also the most dangerous. If used incorrectly, you may not be able to return to original form ever again."

"I had it though right, I-"

"You don't know how to control it properly though. I just saved you from becoming a shadow for life. Let's do this again. I'll be right here with you."

Drenacle stood right by Michael's side and went through the training with him. He was making sure Michael was right with becoming a shadow and then forming back into a human, Michael succeeded about after about every two or three times. It would take longer before he was able to do it off by heart. In the meantime, Drenacle taught Michael a few tricks and also gave him heaps of advice.

"Be careful Michael. Don't take this power for granted or else the consequences can be severe." Drenacle cautioned him. "Get some rest now, there's another bed in the same room Adma's in."

Michael took it all in before leaving the training simulation room and going to the bed that was identical to the one Adma was in. It had been put up next to hers. Adma opened her eyes and noticed Michael getting into bed. She rolled over and dozed back off to sleep, letting Michael get some sleep himself. Michael slept well and the next time he woke up Adma walked in and scared him.

"Sorry Michael. Did I scare you?" She asked, sitting down on the bed next to him.

"Yeah, you broke my concentration too." Michael laughed. "How was your sleep?"

"It was alright I guess. I miss everyone too." She said. Finally Michael remembered them.

"Same..." He began, trying to sound like he did not forget them."Don't worry we'll see them again, and you'll get to see your boyfriend again."

Adma gave him a strange look.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. Michael was lost for words as Drenacle walked in

"Am I interrupting?" He asked them.

"No, you're not interrupting." Adma said, getting up and walking out, leaving Michael and Drenacle alone.

"What is it?" Michael asked him.

"I wanted to start our second training session. Meet me in the training room in five minutes." He said. He left the room straight after which Michael found quite strange. Not long after Drenacle, Michael followed, passing the doorway of where Keisha and Adma were talking to each other and down a narrow corridor before turning left into the same small empty white room. Drenacle was already waiting for him as Michael had expected. The white area changed into the arena again. He spent a few hours with Michael, repeating the first lesson until Michael finally proved that he was ready.

"Okay, now that you know how to control it, it's time to teach you how use it to your advantage. I will show you just one move and we'll go from there. The trick with shadow is to use it not only as a defence mechanism but also as an attack."

He quickly sank into the ground and came up not seconds later behind Michael, grabbing him as a human shield. Michael was left in amazement and couldn't wait to be able to do it himself. Drenacle let go of him and went through the process.

"To get it right you have to move quickly. Focus only of... wait. Firstly..."

Drenacle paused then sunk into the ground even before he was covered by shadow then came back out of the ground. He changed his mind and taught Michael how to do what he had just done. It took time and Michael kept getting stuck in the ground, but Drenacle was at his side, helping get out every time. One last try about an hour later and Michael had finally done it. He went into the ground of the arena and as soon as he was out of sight of Drenacle on the surface, he was a covered shadow. Drenacle clapped his hands.

"_This is so awesome."_ Michael thought in his amazement and excitement. Drenacle was both proud of Michael and himself.

"Well done Michael, very well done in deed." Drenacle said, still clapping as Michael returned to the surface, slowly turning back to his human form. He was a bit worn out but wanted to continue anyway. Drenacle taught him the last lot of moves he knew and left the best till last.

"Okay last and least. This, my friend is the hardest one of all... okay second hardest. Shooting shadow and connecting it to your arm and using it to grab enemies with it as I last taught you are the hardest, but I left this one until last because it's my favourite. I call it the 'Shadow grab'."

Michael thought this was going to be interesting. The 'Shadow grab' sounded awesome. Drenacle stood there and moved around, not moving his legs. About a second later Michael's legs were pulled through the ground and he was stuck. He squirmed for a bit but then turned himself into shadow to escape it.

"That is the shadow grab. Now with this kind of shadow attack, you have to use the same technique as when you used the 'shadow blast' and as a 'shadow arm'."

Michael used the same technique as that and amazingly he did it first shot, though on himself and not Drenacle. He got free and tried again until he finally pulled it off about an hour later. Drenacle was most impressed as he told Michael to rest.

"... You deserve it." Drenacle finished.

Back at the penthouse, the Shadow could not believe that they had been fooled. Even worse, their current situation made no sense at all. Buhn and Sam were going over it, over and over again but sadly getting nowhere.

"They were here right?" Sam said, walking back and forth.

"Yeah, but they didn't know we were coming through and probably thought... wait... wouldn't they think we left them and just went to that planet where we were headed to in the first place?" Andrew asked. No one listened to him. He repeated himself but unfortunately forgot what he said. Madeleine joined their conversation.

"Well if they were here, why don't we ask how long ago they left to figure out far they'd be from here by now?"

They all looked at her. Sam and Buhn had already thought of that.

"Madeleine, I've already tried and they left hours ago which means... wait, I have it."

Everyone looked at Sam.

"They're probably at The Red Shroud where the note says '_Meet with the Red Shroud; he can help Lord T.E.O with his new power and fate in which we all know will end with victory and resurrection.'_

None of that made sense to any of them besides the '_meet with the Red Shroud_' part. They then decided who was to go there and see if they were right.

"Of course Sam and Buhn should go. Everyone should go except for the girls... just in case it's too dangerous." Kurt said. Madeleine, Becky and Caitie didn't like that idea.

"Hey..! Just because we're girls doesn't mean that we can't take care of ourselves!" Caitie exclaimed.

"Where is The Red Shroud and how bad is this place anyway?" Becky asked.

"It's one of the worst places on this planet. The Red Shroud is the name of both the place and the crime lord who dwells there. He's vicious, dangerous and unforgiving, no place for girls or guys like yourselves. Buhn and I will go there and find out what's going on. You all stay here. There's food, shelter and television okay?"

"Okay." They all answered in sad, disappointed voices. The sun set over the busy city and Sam and Buhn left immediately. Later, everyone had fun doing their own thing in the penthouse and hotel building. The Fellas hung around the bar on the ground floor, drinking all they wanted, getting tipsy but not smashed, and not drawing too much attention.

"We should do this every night. Just go out and drink, hang with the guys and stuff." Peter said.

"Yeah, who cares if we can't go to The Red Shroud? He's probably some dude who thinks he can boss everyone around and do whatever he wants in his own little controlled world." Kurt mocked.

"Isn't he a crime lord?" Peter mentioned.

"Crime lord of the weak as p-"

Their conversation was disrupted by a stranger under a hood who grabbed Kurt, stopping him in his words.

"You think it is funny mocking one of the most murderous crime lords in the galaxy kid?" The stranger said in a scary female voice, beginning to scare Kurt a bit. The others watched in fear.

"I...I... was just umm..."

"Do you want me to take you to him right now and see what he says about you saying such things about him? I can do that."

"I would like to see him but..."

"But what is it huh?" She asked him. The bartender walked over and broke it up. Sam and Buhn had asked him to keep an eye on them.

"Let him go. He doesn't know what he's saying. How about if you have a drink, it's on me?"

She let go of Kurt and turned went off with the bartender back to the bar. As she walked off she said to them, "I'm sure. Look, you're wasting your time going to see The Red Shroud. Go home before you lose more than you can bear."

Suddenly Andrew recognised the woman's voice but stayed quiet. The quiet room went back to their own business. Andrew headed over to the bar, minding his own business and caught their conversation.

"They're just teens. They don't know much in this world." The bartender told this stranger. The woman walked past Andrew and left. Andrew asked the bartender who that woman was. He did not give Andrew a direct answer. Only that she had been at the hotel for a few days. He returned to the others at the table as Sam and Buhn walked in.

"Come here you four. We need to tell you something." Sam said. Andrew, Kurt, Peter and Mark all got out of their seats and followed Sam back up to the penthouse. On the way, Andrew told Sam about the woman.

"Sam Numa. There was a woman in the bar. I swear she one that was at reception, the one I spoke to. She knew you were headed to The Red Shroud."

Sam froze, causing everyone to do the same.

"What?" He said in a low voice, trying to control his temper before continuing.

"She was there and you didn't ask her anything?"

Andrew mentioned how he asked the bartender and told him what he was told. Sam focused on other matters, ignoring the information Andrew provided.

"That could've been our chance of finding out what's going on and not to mention who she is and how she knows about everything that's happened. That's it, we're doing this now."

He stormed up the stairs. Once he got there, he slammed the door. Buhn let him be. It was only at dinner that he joined them. Buhn informed them all about their current situation and what they had finally decided to do. They left and headed to The Red Shroud, leaving the rest of them there. Nobody in the group liked this one bit. The guys wanted to see a real life crime lord and the girls wanted to go on an adventure. None of them said anything. Sam saw that this wasn't going well and so he tried reasoning with them.

"Hours have passed and it's taken them this long to come to a decision?" Madeleine whispered to Caitie. She heard the Fellas and Tony complaining and decided to intervene.

"Look, I know that none of us like this but it's for our safety. They're putting that first. Now go get some sleep."

She went up the stairs and asked the group to be quiet so she could sleep. She entered the bedroom under the unknowingness of then being in the same room as Michael had. There was a cupboard next to the bed where she noticed a note. It said...

_"Look under the pillows. I left something there... secret for only you to read. I knew you would pick my room, so yeah. The 'So yeah' part was proof of that."_

_Michael_

Madeleine couldn't believe it. She immediately rustled the pillows off the bed and as the note had said, there was another one under the pillows. This one read...

"_If you are reading this then I have either been kept at The Red Shroud being trained by him, killed by him..."_

Madeleine gave a short quiet shriek but read on. She did not know why she paused there or the reason for Michael leaving a space between the sentences.

_"... or I have been trained well, come back and survived another day."_

After she had finished reading it, she was relieved to hear that he was fine. Then her feelings changed. She also noticed another note with that one. She read this one too. It said...

_ "I can't believe she's dead and it's my entire fault. I promised her I'd save her and instead I kill her. Oh Adma, if you're out there please forgive my anger. It wasn't my fault. It took over me like that. And my friends, if you ever find this, you know I'm not a murderer. I'm going to my home on Firaciend and I hope to see everyone there. Oh why should I? I'm a danger to everyone closest to me. It looks like this is the end. I love you all, especially Madeleine who I loved the same amount as Adma and still do. You would've been the perfect person in my life. My last words are I'm sorry."_

_Michael_

Madeleine put her hand over her mouth in both shock and surprise. Andrew came in to see her. She hid the letters as soon as she heard the door open.

"Hey, I was just wondering how you were, knowing that Michael was here and-"

"Adma's dead." Madeleine interrupted quickly. "And Michael killed himself."

Andrew looked at her; a seriousness crossing his face.

"How... what do you..." He began. He was speechless. Madeleine showed Andrew the notes, which he looked at intently, going over it again and again. No matter how many times he went over them, it still meant the same thing. He asked Madeleine if there was another one. In the seriousness of this, they searched the room for any sign of another note, turning the room upside down. The others heard the commotion and walked in, catching them. They thought something else was going on and interrupted the two's search.

"What are you guys doing?" Tony said, noticing the pillows off of the bed on the floor and the sheets with it. There was an awkward silence. All Madeleine could think to do was to tell them the truth. She showed them the notes. The group returned to the main penthouse room and talked about the newly found evidence. Madeleine couldn't bear to think of Michael doing such a thing and ignored her fear of the possible truth. She sat down with everyone else and watched television with them while they talked about the notes. What none of them knew was that another note was hidden right under their noses.

At The Red Shroud, Sam and Buhn were trying to get answers. They got inside and were led down to the throne room by Liam. He was intrigued how they had arrived to find answers. I was surprised they were not aware of the events that transpired within the walls of The Red Shroud.

"So you're here to see the Red Shroud to get answers eh?"

"Yeah, we were told that Lord T.E.O was here."

Liam froze and turned to them.

"How do you know him?" He asked them both. He knew what happened the last time someone turned up, after Lord T.E.O. The rumours were true; he was a wanted man.

"We're friends of his. Was he here? Is he still here? What's been going on?"

Liam looked away and began to walk off. Buhn and Sam chased after him asking over and over, but Liam said nothing and just led them to the Red Shroud. They got to the throne room and found the Red Shroud relaxing on his red couch looking down at them. Liam went up and whispered in his ear and then there was silence amongst the crowd in the room before he spoke.

"What you have heard is true. The murderous Lord T.E.O was here but is no more."

Buhn couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Red Shroud continued. "If that's all you're here for, then leave now." He said. Buhn couldn't take it anymore. He jumped in.

"Look, just tell us where Lord T.E.O is. We're his caretakers and he's safer with us than anyone else so if you're keeping him here..."

The Red Shroud felt insulted. He breathed in a deep breath and began to speak, but before he could, Sam interrupted pleasantly.

"The Red Shroud, we are just here to find out where he is. As soon as we have him back in safe and capable hands then we will get out of your way."

The Red Shroud thought for a bit, and then came to a decision.

"Okay. He came here..." He began, and then told them both about everything that happened. He also mentioned that they were too late and their friend had come after the Evil One and failed in defeating him. He did not add that very name. Sam and Buhn had found out all they needed.

"Thank you very much. So you're sure they left the planet. We will be on our way then." Sam said. The Red Shroud asked them to leave. He and Buhn left The Red Shroud and returned to the penthouse to tell the others what happened; none of which told Buhn or Sam about the notes... straight away.

**Chapter 17**

**Welcome Home**

Days went by and Drenacle's ship had arrived at their destination. Meanwhile at the penthouse, hope was running thin and the ultimate and final decision was the one they had avoided for too long now. The group of teenagers hung around the penthouse watching television. This was Buhn and Sam's best time to reveal their next plan. They had feared this plan for so long. These dark times called for it now than ever. Michael was obviously not on Mestroplosia. The Red Shroud; an infamous crime lord's words could not be trusted. The question of who had kidnapped Michael in the first place still daunted them. They got everyone to sit down on the couch and chairs before speaking to them.

"We have no choice but to just go to Firaciend and hope for the best. We've done all we can but with no leads, we don't know where else to look." Sam told the group. No one was happy with this decision but knew that it would be their best option. Then Madeleine spoke.

"Wait. I found these."

She got up and handed them the notes they had been hiding from Sam. He examined them and passed them to Buhn for him to see, who passed them back. The room went quiet. They were waiting to see what they both thought of this.

"I know. Thank you for showing me this." Sam answered as soon as he had finished looking at them and Buhn was examining them. The group looked at him strangely.

"What do you mean you know?" Kurt asked him and Buhn. Buhn stepped in once again and told them the story of everything that happened at The Red Shroud right down to the last detail.

"But I didn't know he killed himself over this." He finished. Everyone was amazed of what they just heard. It wasn't like Michael to kill anyone, let alone his one love Adma. They were both missing and the notes proved it all.

"They must've been lying. Michael would never do such a thing. It's not in his nature or right mind to kill." John argued. He could not believe such a thing. Everyone turned and looked at him; Michael's own brother, the one who knew him best. All of Michael's friends agreed with him, all except for Andrew. It was hard for him to believe that when the evidence from the notes matched the exact same story Sam and Buhn were told, and therefore, had told them.

"I believe that Michael killed her." He said in confidence. No one in the room could believe what they were hearing. One of Michael's own best friends saying he thought Michael was a dangerous murderer.

"I'm sorry. But the evidence from the notes shows it, that's all."

None of them remembered or wanted to remember the one piece of evidence that could get Michael locked away forever. The argument went on for the rest of the night until round about midnight when they all went to bed.

Early the next morning the Shadow left the Threshold hotel and went back to the Star Ship Resavolar. That entered the same transport vehicle that had brought them there. Ratchet welcomed them back and found that their moods had completely changed since his first encounter with them. They were miserable. Buhn told him to take them back to the ship. He went to pay Ratchet to same amount as days earlier, but Ratchet told him to keep it. He saw that that had been through a lot. All of Michael's company thought of what if Michael did kill himself after killing Adma? None of this made sense at all. They got back to the platform where the ship was, entered it and stayed down on the lounge room floor, watching television, trying to get their minds off of this catastrophe. Buhn and Sam returned to the bridge and gave the orders to head to Firaciend and report to their boss that they had failed. The trip to Firaciend took a long time. The worst part was that all of Michael's friends were too depressed to do anything. They had lost both Michael and Adma. A fear dawned that if they weren't careful, then they would be next. Buhn and Sam were going to make sure this did not happen. They had informed the group that if Michael and Adma were not at Firaciend, they would take everyone back home. In the meantime, the group talked among one another. The sound on the television was left low while they talked.

"I wonder how much further this planet is." Tony said, trying to start a conversation. No one else answered. This was a sad time for everyone. Madeleine had something else on her mind. That last part on the last note about Michael feeling the same way he did about Adma.

"_I can't believe he felt the same way about me. He's a crazy one with his top five girls he likes and everything. Now he's dead."_ She thought. A tear drooled from her left eye after thinking about Michael not being alive anymore. Caitie noticed her.

"Hey Madeleine; it's alright. He's probably alive and..." She paused, not able to continue at the thought of being wrong. John finished it for her.

"He wouldn't kill himself... I don't think."

Even he was left unsure. Everyone else in the room began to feel worse.

"Come on guys. We've mourned over both him and Adma for long enough. We should just move on with our lives and keep them in memory but not mourn over them like sick dogs." Kurt said. The group agreed with his very words but didn't understand the sick dog's part. It was easier said than done. Buhn and Sam turned up.

"How are you guys? You've been in here all day mourning over Michael and Adma. We have news."

All of Michael's friend's faces lighted up as soon as they heard that the two had news, hoping they had located Michael and Adma. A split second later, they all knew that was not what they were going to tell the ten of them.

"Now that I have your attention, I'd like to say that we are almost at Firaciend and the end of our journey."

This was half good news, but the other half that they were all hoping to hear never came.

"And what else?" Barry asked.

"That's it. We're almost there and seen also that this whole adventure went badly, we understand if you want to go back home to earth. But that will be decided after the next day as I said earlier." Buhn finished. Everyone looked back and forth at each other then continued their own conversation. Sam interrupted them once more.

"Listen, we want you to see Firaciend and the amazing sights it has... I have a feeling too. The notes may have been a decoy by that woman who we encountered at the Threshold hotel. Adma's jumper and Michael's cloak were left at the penthouse which means someone knew we would be the ones to find them."

Michael's friends began to murmur amongst one another, more quietly this time. Buhn and Sam had left the room. Andrew spoke aloud in an epiphany.

"It was that Lyn person. She knew us. We should've... she might be on this very ship right now!"

"Yeah right Andrew. The people on this ship would know if some woman was on the ship." Mark said. But Andrew was on to something... something very big. They all started to talk again. Andrew left the room and caught Buhn and Sam with his idea. They listened and agreed on this new lead.

"Andrew may be onto something here. She knows us. Only if we knew who this Lyn person worked for." Sam replied. He walked into the elevator and Buhn followed him. The elevator door closed and Andrew went back to the others, catching John's comment.

"That was weird. Sam must've had an idea; he only did that when he did. What was unknown to them was what he was planning." He said. Andrew sat down on the couch and did not say a word. A few minutes later Barry asked where he went off to in such a hurry.

"I spoke with Buhn and Sam before they went back up to the bridge. They think it may be a possibility."

"What might be a possibility?" Becky asked him, eavesdropping on the guy's conversation as while also being a part of the girl's conversation at the same time. The conversations soon turned from two smaller conversations into a one main one between all ten individuals. It went for hours and afternoon soon arrived. The Star Ship Resavolar had finally arrived at Firaciend at its final destination. Everyone was called to the bridge to see the amazing sights it beheld, as aforementioned by Sam. They saw a quite large planet, only a little smaller than Earth. Its surface was half lava and volcanic on one side and ice frozen on the other. A short green strip went through the middle, cutting between the two complete opposite climates. They guessed the green was a large forest. It was the weirdest thing they had seen, but it was still amazing nonetheless.

"Welcome my friends, to Firaciend." Buhn said. The ship entered the atmosphere of Firaciend and for many miles in every single direction were black mountains and volcanoes. In the middle of all this was a city with tall buildings and towers. Between these buildings were many multiple metal roads and freeways with vehicles driving on them. That was not the half of it. In the middle of this city stood a huge tower with "T.E.T Corp" on the front of it in giant lit up letters.

"What does T.E.T stand for?" Becky asked.

"It stands for The Evil Traitorous Corporation. Don't worry; if you're on our side you're fine. Only those that are part of T.E.T Corp know that is what it stands for. There are still many enemies and justices that want us dead." Sam answered.

"Like the ones that took Michael and Adma." Becky said. Sam nodded his head. He then contacted T.E.T Corp officials, asking permission to land in a hanger in the tower. Once he was granted this permission the ship descended into one of the main hangers and landed inside. From the bridge they could see men coming out of a door entrance to the hanger to greet them. These men looked like guards. A couple of them were holding long black spears and others were holding laser rifles of the same dark colour. Their clothes were of fiery dark suits of colours red, orange and yellow with black cloaks over their backs. They were a little taller than Sam and their faces were covered by round helmets and black balaclavas. All that could be seen were their freakish red eyes. Accompanied by them was a man with red and yellow coloured skin. He was humanoid like the guards with him, was a bit shorter than the guards that surrounded him and wore a tunic of the same colours; though brighter, as the men his men. He looked to be quite high royalty yet he did not wear a crown on his head. This was the only giveaway to the teenagers that he was not the leader of the city. This made him stand out from the rest. Buhn, Sam and the teenagers left the ship and met these people. They took a much different route than they had to the Star Ship Euthana nestled on one of the hangers. Instead they came to a different corridor than were not familiar with. At the end of the narrow corridor, the door opened downwards, forming into a ramp leading out to the T.E.T Corp hanger. The teenagers suddenly realised they had come out of an entrance at the front of the Star Ship Resavolar.

"What are you doing back General Numa? The Lord; is he with you?" The man asked. Buhn said nothing and Sam tried to answer as best he could.

"We umm... had complications."

The man looked at him with an annoyed look along his face. Sam knew as they all did that the mission they were sent out to complete failed. Their guilt over it went further than ever. The man looked at them.

"And what complications were these? Don't worry about it."

Once Sam and Buhn heard these words they became relieved. The man hadn't finished though. The rest made them worry further. They had done their best and deserved credit for bring back the rest of Michael's friend back alive and well. They knew it would not be a good enough excuse.

"Come this way. We'll let his majesty decide what happens now."

Their relief disappeared and fear returned to their faces. The advisor led the group through the entrance door to the hanger, through a hallway, and into an elevator. The teenagers were unsure about what was going to happen to them and the girls became more afraid than the guys. The elevator doors closed as the man pressed one of the buttons beside the elevator door. No one said a thing the whole way up. They were taken first down into the lower part of the building. The door opened revealing a huge room spanning metres into the distance with a roof that also looked like it went for forever into the darkness above them. Glass windows went high into the darkness on each side. The Fellas thought that there was not much privacy, before noticing that they were made so they could see out of them, but no one could see inside. The lot of them followed the man along a long red carpet leading all the way up the giant throne at the other end of the room. Beside the wall windows and quite thick red carpet were statues of dragons of all different sorts. Some had more than one head and others varied in size. They differed to the previous one in several ways. Buhn, Sam, the Fellas, girls and guys had finally reached the main throne where a man was sitting on a large golden chair with two empty golden chairs on each side of him. The two other chairs were identical to his, yet slightly smaller.

"Lord Pyroth. Your General's Sam Numa and Buhn Hido have returned at last." The man introduced, before moving to the side and giving Lord Pyroth a view of everyone. Pyroth was a couple of metres taller than his guards, had the same coloured skin as his right hand man, and wore a type of fiery coloured armour and a red cloak with his hood covering most of his face. He looked down at them all.

"Thank you Blaze." He said before asking, "Where is Lord T.E.O?"

Blaze spoke before Buhn or Sam could.

"Their mission was unsuccessful My Lord."

Pyroth looked from Blaze back to Sam.

"Is this true?"

None of them said anything, too afraid to speak. Andrew broke the silence.

"These guys tried their best. If you're going to punish them for their failure then just think that they went out of their way to get us all here safely. And though they lost two of us-"

"Two?" Pyroth interrupted. He was surprised. He was now aware they had lost Lord T.E.O, but another person with that? He was disbelief. Andrew continued. "Yes two people; Adma and Michael." Pyroth laughed and his guards looked at from the Generals to him.

"What is your name?"

"Andrew… I'm one of Michael's best friends."

"Well Andrew. Maybe you can tell me why I'm speaking with you and not Lord T.E.O."

Andrew froze for a quick second. He then told Pyroth the whole story right down to the end with them getting to Firaciend and failing to bring the Shadow's 'Lord' home.

"I see. Take them away, all except for Generals Hido and Numa." He ordered. A few of his guards with spears around the room came up and took the teenagers back to the elevator. They pushed everyone inside, pressed one of the buttons and let it go down to the lower levels of the building without accompanying them.

"Good one Andrew." "Thanks a lot." "Now look what trouble we're in." Everyone said to Andrew. They thought was going to be taken of the dungeons or jail, blaming Andrew on the whole way for it.

"Hey! How was I to know he would arrest us? I wonder what he's going to do with us."

The elevator doors opened into a dark room.

"Nothing…" A familiar voice answered. They all looked into the dark room where the voice came from. The light went on and Michael was standing there in a complete replica of the lounge room floor. Adma was sitting on the couch looking over at them. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. They all began to smile as they asked the two of them about their adventure. Michael and Adma told everyone everything that happened after they were separated and ended up in the worst situation of their lives, found each other and turned a nightmare into a happy ending.

"By the way, all the floors on the Star Ship Resavolar were also moved into the building." Michael said, informing them. The elevator doors opened behind them and a young woman joined them. She was in a fiery coloured dress going down past her bare feet and wearing a small gold crown over the long black hair on her head. As soon as Andrew noticed her he realised...

"Lyn..!" He said. Everyone turned to her.

"Hello. My father sent me to spy on the Shadow and report back to The Frierursh and make sure things were going fine. I'm sorry for leaving that note saying where your notes were Michael but business is business as you should know. My father is the leader of Lafiraveind and he as we all are, are at the service of The Evil One." She said. Michael liked the sound of that. He had never been the leader of anything or anyone before. Lyn then revealed a piece of information that put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

"I kept an eye on Adma the whole time she was with the Red Shroud. After the explosion inside the arena, I took Adma, changed her back into her normal clothes that the Red Shroud had not dispersed her of yet and put her in the penthouse."

"But why did you?" Michael asked her. That answer was the one Michael had thought of earlier.

"It was the only way to free her."

"So does that make me like king of this place and-" Michael asked her, changing the subject. Lyn made him shut up.

"Your time for that will come. For now, all I can say is that my father wants me to have the honour in teaching you how to use the fire element. Your friends can come and watch if they want. We'll start first thing tomorrow morning." She said, before walking out.

"God she's hot..." Andrew said out loud without realising what he had just said. Everyone looked at him but luckily for him, Lyn had not heard him. That would have been embarrassing.

"Was that out loud?" He asked.

"Yeah it was Andrew." Peter answered him. "I wonder what we do in the meantime."

The group thought and shared their different ideas from hanging around at T.E.T Corp, to going out into the city and exploring.

"Wait. Are we even allowed to leave this building?" Madeleine asked Michael.

"We should be allowed to seeing that it's safe here. Before we do decide what to do, I'm hungry." Michael replied. It was getting close to dinner time so they went up to the kitchen floor and had a snack before dinner. When dinner came around not long after, everyone was invited to the throne room. It looked very different to the teenagers to when they first saw the room. Multiple long tables had been set up at each side of the throne room behind the three chairs of Lord Pyroth's throne. On these tables were plates, cutlery and heaps of meat and vegetables along the middle of the tables. Pyroth, Sam and Buhn were already sitting, waiting for their arrival. Lyn sat next to him and Andrew knew where he was going to sit straight away. Lord Pyroth left his seat and welcomed them all to join him as his guests. The Fellas especially were glad to see Buhn and Sam both they, especially Adma. She had seen what happened to Nemrok when he had failed the Red Shroud numerously. It would be sad to the two of them follow the same fate. Michael sat down on the left side next to Buhn and they talked. Lyn sat on the opposite side of Michael and Andrew sat down next to her with Kurt Mark and Peter sitting down next to him. The girls sat at the one of the other tables, as did the guys. Michael didn't mind. They talked and ate joyfully. He was happy to see everyone again. He feared, as they had, that he would never get that chance ever again. The room got quite loud. After a few minutes, Pyroth left his seat and stood above everyone feasting.

"I would like to just welcome all of our new guests tonight. They have come from far and along them, our long lost Lord T.E.O." He announced. The room was completely silent as they listened. Michael of all people listened closely. He thought that some answers may be answered. Unfortunately that was all Pyroth said before yelling, "To hope in these dark times!" The room cheered and drank from there black glass goblets. Michael did the same and took a sip of the strong wine in his. It tasted quite nice, of a sort of lemon rum flavour. The feast turned into a gathering party and there was music played, people of Lord Pyroth's kingdom dancing and joy. By a couple of hours before midnight, Michael headed off to bed, getting a good night sleep before his training session with Lyn.

The next day, Michael got up rather early and headed up to the 28th floor in front of a door with a sign that said 'Arena' next to it.

"Glad to see you made it. Follow me inside." Lyn said, greeting him. She had turned up from behind him and rest of Michael's friends had joined them. Andrew was the first to enter the arena straight after Lyn which the Fellas were not surprised about. The arena was quite large and had a circle of grey brick wall below many rows and columns of seats that surrounded them as they entered. Unlike the Red Shroud's arena, this one was not enclosed and the sky above was dark and stormy.

"Welcome to the T.E.T Corp arena guys and girls. Michael you may call me Master Lyn as I am now your teacher." She said. Michael's friends left the main arena floor and made their way up to the seats to watch the action from a safe distance. Michael stood at one end of the arena while Lyn stood at the other. They faced each other and suspense came over the crowd watching.

"Okay now. Show me what powers you've learnt so far."

Michael looked a little worried but still remembered his training with the Red Shroud and Drenacle. This was his time to shine and impress Adma while showing off to his friends. He concentrated to the best of his abilities and turned into a shadow moving around the arena. It flew at Lyn who jumped out of the way but got hit by a red blast from Michael that wasn't a shadow anymore. The crowd cheered as they saw this happen. This was a side of Michael they had never seen before. Lyn was down on one knee.

"Wow Michael… very impressive." She said. Michael stood in front of his master with a smile on his face before he heard clapping from another person in the arena.

"Yes Lord T.E.O, very impressive indeed." Pyroth said, joining them both. Lyn got to her feet and bowed to him.

"I was just seeing what he has learned so far father." Lyn replied confidently. Andrew didn't like the sound of that.

"Lord _Pyroth is her father? Oh man. I knew she was too hot to be anything less than a girl with no relation to any King or Lord. Don't worry, I'm sure... oh man she's way out of your league. Maybe I could get her though. They don't call me a lady's man for nothing."_ Andrew thought, though his over confidence wasn't enough, so he doubted.

"I see. And I also see how you defeated that enemy of a friend Frank Hultz on Mestroplosia. I'll leave you to it then. Oh, Lyn darling…"

"Yes dad?"

"Don't go easy on him just because he's the Evil One." Pyroth said. He left them to their training session. Lyn got over the interruption quickly and continued the lesson.

"Now that I've seen your potential and what you've learned so far, it's time for you to learn fire element."

She then stood there in the silence and within a few seconds, created a flame in her hand, demonstrating the ability with ease.

"Now the way to use fire is to create heat. Feel the heat inside you, the heat that drives your anger." She taught. Michael did as she said. He thought about all the things that made him angry. He stood there with his eyes closed and Lyn noticed what he was doing.

"No, no… You need to not think about every bad thing that happened in your life, but to embrace and release a heat within your very body. This is connected to anger." She continued to speak in a low, soft voice. Michael breathed in and out deeply. He tried over and over until about half an hour later and with help from Master Lyn that he finally sustained the fire inside of him. A flame appeared in his hand and he felt the warm sensation. Lyn looked impressed but he had not sustained it for long. The flame disappeared a in a second.

"He finally got it." Madeleine said. Everyone cheered for him. He was happy hearing his friends cheering for him. Lyn told him to ignore them and focus on the task at hand. The rest of the day she taught him the same technique and it wasn't until after lunch that he finally got it perfectly. Lyn clapped her hands and continued with part two of the lesson.

"Okay, it's time for part two. Fight me." She said. She had heard of his fight with both the Red Shroud, his men, and of course Frank Hultz. Michael knew this was where he was going to have fun. Buhn and Sam turned up to observe his training.

"What's going on?" Sam asked them.

"Michael is being taught how to use fire and now they're both going to fight each other." Becky told them. They watched as Michael and Lyn got into their fighting stances.

"Ground rules. You can hit anywhere and only hand to hand and kicking combat while using any fire technique." Lyn said. Michael agreed to those terms and made the first move. He ran at Lyn and shot a small fire ball at her which she dodged. Michael got to her and threw a couple of punches at her, but she blocked them and pushed him back in a fire blast, before shooting more fire balls at him. He luckily dodged them with great difficulty. She was good. Even more, she was not going easy on him. All they were doing were jumping around through different aerobatics while shooting fire balls at each other. The place got very tense until the fight ended. Lyn got a lucky shot and punched Michael in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"_Ah! Not again. It had to be the face again." _He thought. He looked up and Lyn came up to see if he was alright. She asked him if he wanted to keep going. He was about to get on his feet and answer. He noticed Lyn's hand in front of him. She helped him up. Before he could say anything Lyn said, "That's enough for one day. Come on." She called every back down and invited them back inside. Michael got as much rest as he could, ready for his further training that would be not until the next day… in the afternoon instead of the morning.

**Chapter 18**

**Hope, Love and Fate**

While Michael was still resting in his bed the next morning from after his big fight, Madeleine came in to see him. He was watching television while lying in bed when he noticed her in the doorway. He covered his top up with the sheets, a little embarrassed by a girl being in his room at such a time.

"Hey Madeleine, what're you doing?" He asked her. He turned the sound of the television right down so he could hear her.

"Nothing much; I was just wondering about the notes. They said that you believed you killed Adma and that you like me as much as her." She said. She placed herself on his bed and Michael sat up. He knew where this was going.

"Oh. Well that is true as I thought you would've figured but Adma is still... well you know."

"I know. I just wanted to know if that was true. And you know we'll always be really great friends. By the way Michael, great fighting out there yesterday. I didn't know you had it in you."

"Thanks. I don't want to seem mean or anything but I'd like to get some more sleep... thanks for seeing how I was though."

"Okay then. I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah, okay then." Michael replied. She left him alone as he got some more rest. He slept peacefully and woke only about an hour later. He got out of bed and made his way to breakfast in the throne room. The many tables had been kept the same way as after the feast the night before. There, only a few of his friends were there also having pieces of bread for breakfast, including Adma. He sat down on the opposite side of the table to her as Blaze rushed through the doors.

"Pyroth, the General is back and has returned to see Lord T.E.O." Blaze said. Sam and Buhn wondered who this General was. To them, the only Generals of Lord Pyroth and the Shadow were them. They left the throne room and were the first to go to the hanger. Michael and Adma chased them, knowing who this new arrival was. The journey to the hanger was like a massive maze. Buhn and Sam had left Michael and Adma behind, forcing them to take the alternative route, including a whole heap of corridors to the north end of the T.E.T Corp tower, a lot of flights of stairs before another multiple hallways. When they finally got there, all worn out, they caught Sam and Buhn about to fight the man. He took off his brown hood and revealed his demon formed head.

"Good to see you got back safe and sound Buhn." The stranger said. Sam and Buhn could not believe it.

"What are you doing back here you slime ball of a traitor." Buhn asked him in disgust. The man looked at him with sad eyes.

"Buhn my friend... It wasn't my fault the attack failed because I abandoned you lot. I left because I had to..."

"Had to do what? You left at the wrong time and if we had you it would've become successful! Why are you back here for Dren?"

Before the argument could get any worse, Michael jumped in between them just as Pyroth turned up.

"Break it up you two. I don't blame Drenacle for the failure of that attack!" He said. Buhn said nothing and walked out. Drenacle went after him, trying to reason with him, but he was just ignored. They all went inside and made themselves at home. Drenacle tried to think of something to make Buhn listen to him.

"Look, I came back to see Michael. If it wasn't for me he wouldn't be here, nor Adma; especially Adma at that. Michael would probably be dead and as for Adma..."

Buhn didn't ignore him this time and ended up speechless. The room was quiet as everyone headed back to the elevator and up to the throne room to catch up.

"Let's get past this Buhn. Can we be friends again?"

He put out his hand and waited for Buhn to shake it. Eventually he did.

"I see your point Dren. It's just that we almost had victory and you would've been able to end it faster than I could ever hope to. That is, if you stayed at the penthouse." Buhn said. Though he did forgive Drenacle, he still did not trust his betrayal. That would take time. The adults all went to the throne room to speak about serious matters while Michael and Adma returned to the others.

Later, Andrew caught up with Lyn in the elevator. He almost missed it but Lyn was nice enough keep it open for him to enter. He thanked her and thought of this as his chance.

"Hey Lyn, how about we go out sometime? Just you and I go to a restaurant or something for lunch." He asked politely. He felt a little stupid in not asking her out in a subtle way. She widened her eyes and looked away. Andrew saw this as a bad sign and apologised. Lyn thought for a while as the elevator doors opened on the third floor. She walked out and turned back to Andrew as the elevator doors began to close. Andrew's heart began to sink. Before the doors closed completely, she said to him, "7:30 AM tomorrow at the restaurant across the road." The doors closed and Andrew jumped up and down with joy as the elevator went up to the bedrooms floor. He could not wait and as soon as he met with the Fellas, he told them his good news.

"Hey, guess what? I'm going out with Lyn tomorrow."

The others looked at him in disbelief just as Michael joined them.

"Hey Fellas..." He said. He saw the look on their faces and wondered what was going on.

"Ask Andrew. He claims to be... oh wait you tell him." Peter said. So Andrew repeated himself.

"I'm going out with Lyn tomorrow."

Now Michael understood the look of disbelief. He gave him the same look as the other three. About half a minute later, Andrew realised they didn't believe him.

"I'm serious. We were in the elevator-"

"Doing it elevator style." Kurt interrupted him in a mean joke. He put his hand up and got a high five from Mark for his good call. The others laughed except for Andrew.

"Good call Kurt." Michael said. Andrew didn't look happy.

"Just because she's out of my league and I'm amazed she said yes to going out with me."

"Probably because she thinks you're a millionaire." Kurt said, making another good call. He got another high five, this time from Peter.

"Wouldn't that make her a gold digger then?" Mark added. Andrew did not care what they thought anyway and just went along with it.

"Laugh all you want, but I'm going to prove to you lot that she likes me for who I am." He remarked.

"Yeah, a rich guy who can only fulfil her money needs."

This time Kurt went over the line, but Andrew didn't care. As long as he knew what was true and he was going out with a princess, then it kept him happy enough to just laugh with the Fellas teasing him. The five of them went down to the video games room and forgot their troubles or what Andrew had told them. It was not until that night at dinner when Andrew found out the truth. He went to sit next Lyn at the table but to his surprise as he sat down, she got up to sit somewhere else away from him.

"Now you know how I felt when Bethany did that to me." Michael said, sitting with him and giving him someone to talk to. For the whole time Andrew was getting subtle signs sent to him from across the room from Lyn. She was looking at him with pretty eyes and winked and smiled at him every once in a while. He went to bed early that night and got a good night sleep for his big day with Lyn; that was if he was going to end up on a date with her. While he was not with them, the remaining Fellas talked to Lyn to see if what Andrew told them was true. To their expectation, she looked at them with the same disbelief as they had given Andrew.

"I don't know what he told you, but I'm not interested in him at all. I'll talk to him tomorrow and sort things out." She told them before hanging with the girls the rest of the night. The other Fellas went to bed not long after and Michael passed Andrew who was lying in his bed, trying to figure out what Lyn was pulling over him. Michael let him be as Andrew tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Lyn seemed to like him but her actions told otherwise. He was so confused and wondered if he should even meet her at the restaurant the next day. He lied there, going over the night a thousand times in his before coming to the best conclusion.

"That was the answer. She wanted to keep things secret so no one found out!" He said to himself quietly. He sat up quickly. This made him feel much better. He hoped that he was right. That would have to wait, for he had fallen to sleep.

In the throne room, the leaders of the Shadow and Frierursh; Lord Pyroth and his people, were having an important meeting. They were arguing amongst each other about current matters. Mainly those concerning Michael and his new abilities, along with one other secret they were withholding from him, until the time to tell.

"We can't let him do it. He's not ready. He may be the one that can come to ultimate power and that everyone's afraid of, but he can't know what he's meant for. We can't use any of them as weapons at this young age." Buhn ordered against the others.

"Buhn, I know you care about them but we may have no choice." Sam said, reassuring him of their current situation and then turning to Drenacle. Buhn could not believe that Sam was against him on this. Drenacle then revealed his information.

"I heard about a possible attack on this city of Lafiraveind. If we do not do it now, we could end up dead and gone in the next twenty-four hours." Drenacle informed them. The others in the group meeting began to worry by the sound of this. An argument then broke out over whether Michael should be told about having to kill an arch enemy and stop the destruction of Lafiraveind or stay quiet and make him believe they are safe before war breaks out. This would put them all at risk of being killed sooner than expected.

"Quiet!" Pyroth yelled, calming the noise. "We don't have to worry about this situation at this very moment. Leave him for now and we'll talk more about this when matters get worse."

They all agreed with Pyroth. It was their best choice and finally a choice that everyone had agreed upon. Pyroth then changed the subject onto other matters.

"How are the trade routes at the moment?" He asked his advisor.

"They are very good My Lord. We just got a supply ship turn up two minutes ago dropping off more supplies from nearby planets. Only a few planets have ceased trading due to the latest events and fear of the Evil One's return." Blaze said.

"Those are complete and utter lies Blaze!" One of Pyroth's people yelled. He believed in the Evil One being no threat, now seeing that power was within some young teenage boy. The meeting continued for several more hours and before they knew it morning had arrived. Andrew woke up and looked at his phone on the cupboard to see what the time was.

"7:00 AM. Half an hour and I'll soon find out the truth. Oh man, half an hour." Andrew said quietly, making sure no one heard him or knew what he was going to do. He got out of bed, got dressed into a black hooded jumper, dark blue jeans and white and red sports shoes. He left his bedroom, got into the empty hallway and snuck into the elevator. He looked back to make sure no one was following him. The doors closed and the elevator went down to the ground floor to the lobby of T.E.T Corp. The lobby was quite large and had two glass doors that led into the entrance of the building to the right and a reception counter with a Frierursh guard serving at it at the left. The walls surrounding the room were fiery colours and a fountain pouring lava instead of water stood at the west end, opposite the stairwell and on the same side as the elevators. Andrew walked out of the building. He stayed cautious, making sure he was not being followed. He went down a small lot of stairs and crossed the road to the restaurant called 'Riders Edge.' It was quite a small square shaped metal building with a sign, saying 'Riders Edge' glowing at the front, not far above the front doors. He walked into the quiet small fast-food place and sat down in one of the soft red long chairs at a black coloured table. He sat there and looked at his watch just as he saw Lyn sit down opposite him in the corner of his eye.

"Good morning Andrew. I'm sorry about last night, but no one can find out about this. My father might not approve either."

"That's alright Lyn. I, I understand... so what do we do about this?" He asked her as a waitress served them both.

"I don't know... thank you... we know how we feel about each other, and all we can do is not take things further until we know what others think. I have to go. I'll see you around Andrew."

Andrew looked down and Lyn kissed him on the cheek as she walked out. Andrew stayed at Riders Edge and had breakfast when Michael found him.

"Hey. Where's ya date?" Michael asked him.

"She didn't turn up for some reason." Andrew lied.

"I'm so sorry man. You can do much better than her though. Like I say, the least likely person ends up being the one you'll end up with in the end. Otherwise, determination for six years finally pays off." He said, comforting Andrew as best he could. Though, Andrew was not that sad anyway. He ate his breakfast and went with Michael back to T.E.T Corp afterwards. On the way, they talked about how much life sucks when a guy ends up liking/loving a girl they can't be with. They caught up with the Fellas and Michael took them, John, Barry, Tony, and the girls down to a secret part of the building they had not seen yet. The elevator doors opened to a dark room. Michael walked in the room and turned on the six massive lights hanging from the ceiling from the one switch next to the door. It revealed all their vehicles and bikes in a giant underground garage. The cars and bikes tyres were removed and were turned into upgraded hover vehicles with energy beams under them instead of wheels, making them able to hover.

"Guys, welcome to paradise. I talked to Pyroth and he said we can take these out whenever we want but only inside the city and on earth with that teleportation wormhole over there." He said, pointing to the teleportation device where vehicles just drove through to end up back on Earth in a faraway galaxy that had never been forgotten. Michael finished and then invited Adma to join him in his Corvette ZO6. He started up the car and said one last thing to them.

"But unfortunately nowhere outside the city." Michael explained to them. He then drove out of the garage, Adma sitting in the passenger's seat. The wall opened up to reveal a tunnel with a ramp inside it leading up to the road outside. He started it up and drove out. There were an extra two vehicles in the garage; the first one being a normal limo and the other, a hummer limo. Peter noticed them and went up to them both, excited as anything. The others followed.

"Wow, imagine Friday night... limo night! Or even PARTY Night!" He said. The others rolled their eyes at him.

"What? I'm serious. How awesome will it be? We go out to clubs and stuff."

Peter began to become scared from everyone staring at him like he was an idiot. Either that or they looked like they were going to kill him. He walked out in unhappiness to his very clever and smart idea. He was left disappointed that no one liked the idea.

Michael drove around the corners of the buildings, through the streets and out of Lafiraveind. Adma had no idea where he was going but trusted him, even though she knew too well as Michael did that it was dangerous, and they were told not to leave Lafiraveind at all. They got a few kilometres from the city when she finally had enough.

"Where're we going?" She asked him. Michael kept driving and didn't answer. They got to the top of a black mountain. Michael got out and walked up the hill to the very top of it. Adma chased after him across the black rocks. The ground was very hot and Adma did not like being so close to a volcano. At the top Michael and Adma looked over the city of Lafiraveind from a height like no other.

"It's beautiful." Adma said in a soft voice. She now understood why Michael brought her here. It was quite romantic. She looked at him and waited for the return. Michael realised she was waiting for him to make his move. He did not think she would feel such a way so early in their close friendship. He must have hit a nerve; a love nerve. He turned to her as she did to him and put their hands around each other, pulled each other close, and in the flame of love, they kissed. Michael felt his heart racing. He was in heaven with Adma! In this lovely moment he realised something was about to go wrong. It was expected. In the dark distance, many unknown dark ships flew over them straight towards T.E.T Corp. A siren came from the city and Michael knew this was terrible. He left Adma's arms and pulled her back to the car, started it up and raced back to the city. On their way back they watched as T.E.T Corp was under attack and its defences were fighting back strongly. Michael stayed at a safe distance from the attack until the enemy ships retreated and the city fell asleep that afternoon.

**Chapter 19**

**Dark Days (Part 1)**

Once they returned, the garage was unharmed. Fortunately, T.E.T Corp had not been blown to the ground. Unfortunately though, the attack was thought of as intentional. All of his friends were safe and sound in a nearby safe house, guarded by the Shadow. The garage was empty and Michael and Adma both headed straight to the safe house and meet the others. When they got there, the place was abandoned and Michael thought the worst. He and Adma went to the throne room next where they caught a meeting between the Frierursh and Shadow. The leaders had another meeting and this time they could not refuse their ultimate calling and fear.

"We have no choice! This attack was a warning. Whoever attacked us wants us to know our end will come soon." Sam said, convincing the rest of them about their deadly situation. Michael returned to the throne room to find out what happened. The place was destroyed. The windows many kilometres up were smashed but luckily no one was hurt.

"Michael you can't be here. This is a private meeting. We will-"

"Let him stay. He needs to know." Pyroth interrupted Drenacle. He walked ahead of him. Michael didn't understand but his first thought was he was going to have to somehow stop the next attack if it ever came.

"Michael, we believe this attack was no accident, but an intentional attack against us... because of you."

A thousand thoughts crossed his mind. Either he was too dangerous to be kept alive and they were going kill him, or he was going to be taken back home. No, it couldn't be any of those choices.

"We need your help. You will be trained immediately proper shadow, fire and energy." Pyroth told him. The meeting was ended and Pyroth had him follow them all through a secret doorway in the side of the throne room, through a dark corridor and to an elevator. Michael just followed inside the elevator as it went up to the top floor. He had no idea how he could possibly learn such powers in such a short time. Yet he looked forward to it. The doors opened that revealed an arena that looked to be on top of the building itself. He noticed Lyn was there waiting for them. His friends had also turned up to watch again; it was the most entertaining thing at the time. Before his training began, Pyroth told them all about why this was so important.

"Your fate is to protect this city from intruders, enemies, threats, mercenaries, etc., and destroy whoever gets in the Shadow's way. I need to know you know and understand our reason for pushing you so hard. Do you?"

Michael nodded his head and agreed to do his best at learning the techniques and powers he needed to defeat the threat that posed against them. At last his training began. His first trainer was a hired man from the Red Shroud himself, Liam, so Michael thought at first.

"Good to see you again Lord T.E.O." Liam said kindly.

"You too... I didn't know you knew how to use energy blasts." Michael replied.

"He doesn't Michael." A familiar voice to the both of them answered from behind Michael. Michael turned around and saw the Red Shroud in the flesh. They began training and left the talking to a minimum. The leaders and Michael's friends lay quiet as they waited for something exciting to happen. Michael and the Red Shroud got into their fighting stances and he showed Michael a couple of new moves. He accentuated all of his power and in his open left hand, he shot multiple red energy blasts at Michael. He moved out of the way and tried to use the same technique back at him but failed.

"Try again." The Red Shroud kept saying after every time Michael got it wrong. After about ten tries Michael became tired but his hearing had not depleted. He listened once again and heard the exact same sound he had heard earlier. A worried look came across him.

"They're back!" He yelled. Nobody around understood what he meant until an announcement came over.

"Intruders alert, intruders alert. They're coming from the south."

Pyroth and Sam both hurried off in an instance back to the elevator. They contacted the main control centre, ordering them to act immediately. In the meantime, the Red Shroud continued training Michael. Eventually Michael got it right. The danger of the enemy ships drew near and hell was breaking loose. They could hear and see the ships flying around in a hail of fire while they hoped to be safe in the arena on top of T.E.T Corp. The sound of their current position was more worrying than the fact that the enemy could get in, take off with one of them and create a larger problem. Black suited soldiers came down from these ships into the arena. Michael and the Red Shroud began to fight them but there were soon too many. Once the first wave of enemy soldiers was defeated, the Red Shroud directed Michael's attention back to their training.

"Don't worry about them Lord T.E.O. You have more important things to worry about, and if all goes well we should be done by dinner time." The Red Shroud said. But Michael couldn't concentrate on both his training and the destruction of T.E.T Corp. No matter how hard he tried, he felt that he had to do something to stop this. Then it happened. He concentrated so much a dark shadow covered him and it spread through the whole building like a plague. Soon, T.E.T Corp was protected by a massive shadow. The enemy ships shot at the building but nothing worked. The shadow went easy on them at first. The next thing that happened changed everything. Huge fire balls and energy blasts shot out of the shadow, taking down every enemy ship in sight. Inside the arena, the audience watched in shock as Michael became a monster they'd never encountered in their lives. His eyes were red with rage.

"No one attacks this precious and powerful stronghold." The Evil One spoke in its dark, evil voice through Michael's. Once every enemy ship had been taken down, the shadow retreated back to the top of the building and back into Michael who fell to the ground unconscious. It was over. Everyone stood, amazed at what they had just experienced. Adma was in fear. Having seen it again brought back terrible memories. She got up and left. The Red Shroud stared straight, taken aback by the Evil One's ultimate power and protection over its master. The worst was not over, for their very enemy knew the extent of his power and figured more than what both the Shadow and Frierursh put together understood. Things went quiet for the rest of the day. No more attacks came. All Michael did was spent his time learning what he needed to defeat this threat that lingered in their presence. Eventually he had learned all the energy blast techniques. After that, the Red Shroud then returned back to Mestroplosia. The thought of his fate bothered him a little, though he knew this is what his fate held. The destruction of Lafiraveind and the fate of everyone he loved rested on the shoulders of his strength and determination. Even though it hurt so much, he kept training and pushing himself further than he ever had before until...

"That's enough T.E.O. Your training for today is complete. Go get a lot of rest." Drenacle said, who was teaching him a couple more special and stronger shadow techniques. Michael felt weak and tired. He never realised he would ever have to learn so much in such a short time... until now. He left and went down to his bedroom. His friends were told to leave him alone so he could regain his energy for the next training session with Lyn.

"They're pushing him too much. Did you see how worn out he was? This can't go on, even if it's for a good reason." Adma told the others. She was worried about him. The others looked at her as she stopped in front of them.

"What can you do about it though? He knows that they're pushing him hard and believe me, if Michael didn't agree, he wouldn't do what he's doing." Andrew replied. Adma ran through them and disappeared. None of them saw her for the rest of the day and figured she had gone out to get some air. By that time, Michael lied in his bed half asleep. He was having a dream where he could hear Adma's voice. She was saying something about leaving until it was over and that she was sorry. He woke with a jolt at hearing those very words. Sitting up in his bed, he looked around the room, but nobody was there. He looked down and saw a note on his cupboard addressed to him. He opened it and read...

"_Michael, you know I love you and am doing this for the best. I am leaving and don't know when I'll return. Finish your training without me and defeat whoever's been attacking us. I hope you understand and kill their butts for making me do this. I'm sorry, but I need to get away for a while and just know I'll never forget you as you have never forgotten me."_

_Adma_

Michael woke up with a fright and found Madeleine standing next to his bed with a note in her hand.

"I'm sorry Michael."

He took the note from her hand, opened it and read it, before soon realising his dream became a nightmare.

Nightfall crept in and Michael was ready for his next session of training. He went up to the throne room to join the leaders who didn't look happy.

"Hey what's going on?" He asked them. All of his friends also came up to see what the commotion was about. The leaders played a hologram they received from an unknown source. A figure of a hooded man in a dark room appeared and he spoke as they all watched.

"Greetings T.E.T Corp. Your reign of terror is at an end. You will surrender yourselves to the higher authorities and give Lafiraveind to me or else Lord T.E.O's precious love will die."

The picture changed to Adma unconscious and tied up in a chair, but unharmed. The picture turned back from her to the stranger.

"By the way... Bon Voyage."

Suddenly the bottom of the building began to explode and tumble to the ground with them all inside. Michael closed his eyes and the whole planet of Firaciend disappeared. The end of the world had come on the 11th of November. This was his story. Well actually my story. Yes I am T.E.O. 'THE EVIL ONE.'

105


End file.
